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Past Perfect

The document discusses the past perfect tense in English. It is used: 1) To refer to an action that started in the past and continued up to another point in the past. 2) When reporting past experiences that include events up until the present time. 3) To refer to something important that happened in the past but is relevant to the time being discussed.

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Tadeo Gómez R
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263 views

Past Perfect

The document discusses the past perfect tense in English. It is used: 1) To refer to an action that started in the past and continued up to another point in the past. 2) When reporting past experiences that include events up until the present time. 3) To refer to something important that happened in the past but is relevant to the time being discussed.

Uploaded by

Tadeo Gómez R
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PAST PERFECT

I had been watching the


programme every week, but I
missed the last episode.
We use the verb had and the past
participle for the past perfect: We often use a clause with since to
show when something started in the
I had finished the work. past:
She had gone .
They had been staying with
The past perfect continuous is formed us since the previous week.
with had been and the -ing form of the I was sorry when the factory closed.
verb: I had worked there since I left
I had been finishing the work school.
She had been going. I had been watching that
programme every week since it
The past perfect is used in the same way started, but I missed the last
as the present perfect, but it refers to a episode.
time in the past, not the present.
 when we are reporting our experience
We use the past perfect tense:
and including up to the (then) present:
 for something that started in the past My eighteenth birthday was the
and continued up to a given time in the worst day I had ever had.
past: I was pleased to meet George. I
hadn’t met him before, even though
When George died he and Anne had
I had met his wife several times.
been married for nearly fifty years.
She didn’t want to move. She had
 for something that happened in the past
lived in Liverpool all her life.
but is important at the time of reporting:
We normally use the past
I couldn’t get into the house. I had
perfect continuous for this:
lost my keys.
She didn’t want to move. She had Teresa wasn’t at home. She had
been living in Liverpool all her life. gone shopping.
Everything was wet. It had been
We use the past perfect to talk about the
raining for hours.
past
in conditions, hypotheses and wishes
 for something we had done several
:
times up to a point in the past
and continued to do after that point: I would have helped him if he had
asked.
He was a wonderful guitarist.
It was very dangerous. What if you
He had been playing ever since he
had got lost?
was a teenager.
I wish I hadn’t spent so much
He had written three books and
money last month.
he was working on another one.

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