Grammar: Groups & phrases: Verb group: Time & tense
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Past perfect | |
The past perfect in dependent clauses
When the past perfect is used to indicate that one action or event occurred before another, it appears in the dependent clause:
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When SleepStealer had filled his bag, he was ready
to go. dependent clause main clause |
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Note that it follows conjunctions of time (when,
after, as soon as). The tense used in the main clause is the past simple.The past perfect is also used in a dependent clause in the 'third conditional' 
:
If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared something.
dependent clause main clause
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