Grammar: Groups & phrases: Verb group: Time & tense
|
Past perfect | |
Using the past perfect
The past perfect is used to refer to past time viewed from a point in the past. It can
be seen as a past version of the present perfect, and in some cases, of the simple past.
The past perfect is also used when referring to past events which did not happen,
especially in the 'third conditional' 
.
Students often have difficulty in using the past perfect appropriately. |
 |
The past perfect is most commonly used in stories.
For more information, see 
Text types: Stories: Locating
events in time and place
The past perfect is associated with particular verbs. Here is a list of verbs which are
commonly used in the past perfect: 
| be - had been | go - had gone | come - had come |
| make - had made | take - had taken | do - had done |
| leave - had left | have - had had | say - had said |
| see - had seen | become - had become | begin - had begun |
| bring - had brought | find - had found | give - had given |
| get - had got | happen - had happened | hear - had heard |
| know - had known | tell - had told | turn - had turned |
The past perfect is typically used with time adverbs and prepositional phrases:
|
She said Grandpa had smoked two cigarettes every evening for the past fifty years. |
|
The past perfect usually occurs in dependent clauses:
|
When
SleepStealer had
filled his bag, he
was ready to go. dependent clause main clause |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
||
To give us feedback about this section, click here or on the Comment button at the top of the screen.
If you have any questions about this section, visit the Language Corner.
If you have any questions or suggestions about how to teach this section, send a message to the Teaching Corner.
