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Module 2 - Past Perfect Tense

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36 views

Module 2 - Past Perfect Tense

Uploaded by

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

The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about

something that happened before something else that is also in the past. Imagine

waking up one morning and stepping outside to grab the newspaper. On your way

back in, you notice a mysterious message scrawled across your front door: “Tootles

was here.” When you’re telling this story to your friends later, how will you describe

this moment? You might say something like:

I turned back to the house and saw that someone named Tootles had defaced my
front door!

Your friends will be able to understand that Tootles graffitied the door at
some point in the past before the moment this morning when you
saw their handiwork, because you used the past perfect tense to
describe the misdeed.

THE PAST PERFECT FORMULA

The formula for the past perfect tense is had + [past participle]. It doesn’t
matter if the subject is singular or plural; the formula doesn’t change.

What is the difference between the past perfect and the simple past?

When you’re talking about some point in the past and want to reference an event

that happened even earlier, using the past perfect allows you to convey the

sequence of the events. It’s also clearer and more specific. Consider the difference

between these two sentences:

Example 1: We were relieved that Tootles used washable paint.

Example 2: We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

It’s a subtle difference, but the first sentence doesn’t tie Tootles’s act of using

washable paint to any particular moment in time


In the second sentence, the past perfect makes it clear that you’re talking about a

specific instance of using washable paint.

Another time to use the past perfect is when you are expressing a
condition and a result:

Example 3: If I had woken up earlier this morning, I would have caught Tootles
red-handed.

The past perfect is used in the part of the sentence that explains
the condition (the if-clause).

Exercise:

When I was out there this morning cleaning off the door, I remembered that just last
week I ___________ (notice) what a muddy white colour it is, and I ____________
(think) about other colours for it. I even _________ (go) inside then
and __________ (look) at paint colours online.

Explanation:
In the first sentence, you clearly establish the time before this morning that you were

recalling this morning with the use of the past perfect in had noticed and had

thought. Then, in the second sentence, you can switch back to the simple past and

be understood as still referring to that earlier time last week.

When not to use the past perfect


Don’t use the past perfect when you’re not trying to convey some sequence of past

events. If your friends asked what else you did this morning besides discovering the

graffiti, they would be confused if you said:

EXAMPLE: I had cleaned it off the door.


How to ask a question in the past perfect

The formula for asking a question in the past perfect tense is had +
[subject] + [past participle].

EXAMPLE: Had Tootles caused trouble in other neighbourhoods before they struck ours?

When to use “had been”


to show that something was happening in the past, but only up to a
certain point in the past.

“Had been” is used to mean that something happened in the past and
has already ended.
“Have been” and “has been” are used to mean that something began
in the past and has lasted into the present time.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
The present perfect tense is an English verb tense used for past actions
that are related to or continue into the present. It’s easily recognized by the
auxiliary verbs (or helper verbs) have and has, as in, “I have gone fishing
since I was a child.”

First-person: I have come a long way.

Second person: You have come a long way.

Third-person plural: They have come a long way.

Third-person singular: He/she/it has come a long way.

The present perfect tense for questions

Have you eaten dinner yet?

Has the party started?

How to use the present perfect tense with adverbs

Although you can still use adverbs after the verb (as you do normally), with
the present perfect tense you can also place the adverb between the
auxiliary verb and the past participle.

[have/has] + [adverb] + [past participle]

They have gradually advanced their career from cashier to senior


manager.

All the guests have already arrived.

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