TENSES MADE EASY

Past Perfect

The past perfect is quite simple and useful. We use it to show that one action in the past occurred before another action in the past.

USE:

1.       A completed action before another activity in the past

Past Perfect Simple
To Talk About actions/states that occurred before a certain point in the past.
POSITIVE	SUBJECT	AUX.	PAST PARTICIPLE
	I	Had	Worked
NEGATIVE	SUBJECT	AUX. + NOT	PAST PARTICIPLE
	I	Hadn’t	Worked
QUESTION	AUX.	SUBJECT	PAST PARTICIPLE
	Had	You	Worked?

The past perfect is also used in a number of expressions like these:

I wish, I’d rather, as if/though and if only

I wish I hadn’t gone there

I’d (= I had) rather see It for my self

John looked as if he had done something terrible

In Positive Sentences

Mr. Johnson had read the document carefully before he signed it

Before I was born, my grandfather had gone to war

You may find that people (especially native speakers) sometimes don’t use the Past Perfect in sentences like:

After I walked my dog, I went to the cinema

This is because ‘after’ or ‘before’ tell the listener which action happened first

Still, keep in mind that such sentences are usually used in conversations rather than other situations

Thus try to avoid them – especially in tests where you can lose points

In Questions

Had he known some words before he started learning English?

Had they had any pet before they bought the giraffe?

Common time expressions (time adverbials) in the past perfect:

After, before, as soon as, just, yet, until, till, by the time that.

In Negative Sentences

I hadn’t seen Berlin before I flew there in the summer

Brenda didn’t call me before her plane had landed

Of course, the past perfect is used in reported speech (= saying someone else said):

Ann: I was in the US 12 months ago

George: Ann said she had been in the US 12 months earlier

OR

Ann: I have searched all the rooms

George: Ann said she had been searched all the rooms

So what we basically do is replace the past simple and present perfect with The Past Perfect

Spoken Practice

Answer the following questions in spoken English

1.       Make 10 combined sentences of past simple and past perfect, for example:

When I reached home my family members had slept; the train had left before I reached the railway station, etc.