The Past Perfect Tense
The Past perfect tense of the English grammar is formed in the same manner for every person:
| had + | 3rd form | ||
| I | had | heard | the rumors before I saw the news in the papers. |
| They | had not | seen | the the new car until it was parked in front of the house. |
| Susan | had never | worked | for such a large company. |
When to use the Past Perfect Tense in English:
- If several events happened in the past, the Past Perfect Tense shows us which event happened before the others. The important thing to notice is that the first event (earlier on the timeline) is finalised before the next one begins.
After I had studied IT, I worked for IBM.
I had studied IT before I worked for IBM.
As you can see above, the earlier action is expressed in the Past Perfect Tense, while the later event is described in the Past Simple Tense.
- When describing past events in the actual order the Past Simple can be applied in both cases.
First I studied IT, then I worked for IBM.
Past Perfect Simple tense used in indirect speech:
To transform events described in the Past Simple or Present Perfect Simple form to earlier points of time, the Past Perfect Simple is used. This is the case in the formation of indirect speech structures, where one can observe the shift of the tense levels.
Brian told me, "I am tired because I have worked for 12 hours.
Brian told me that he was tired because he had worked for 12 hours.
Do you like wijng? Share it with your friends, add it to you prefered social network:
