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The forms of the past perfect
tense and of the present perfect
tense
are very similar: both use have--have
/ has, had--and
the past participle. The uses of the
past perfect and the present
perfect
are quite different, however.
One of the most common uses
of the past perfect happens
when there
are two past actions and one of them happened
before the
other:
(before now)
X
earlier
past
(1) |
<---
|
(before now)
X
more
recent past
(2) |
<---
|
X
now |
In this situation, the past
perfect tense is frequently used for
the first (earlier)
past action and the simple past tense is
often
used for
the more recent past action:
X
earlier
past
(1)
past perfect |
<---
|
X
more
recent past
(2)
simple past |
<---
|
X
now |
eat lunch
expect to win
just step
into
the shower
know each other
promise to stay
with his brother
study hard
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be hungry
not win
phone ring
get
married
can't come to
the party
do well
on
the test
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Examples:
I wasn't hungry
at dinnertime. I had
eaten a very large lunch.
He had expected to win, but he didn't.
I had just stepped into the shower when
the phone rang.
When Bill and Joanne got married,
they had only
known
each other for two weeks.
Luis had promised to stay
with his younger brother,
so he couldn't come to the party.
Barak did well on the test
because he had
studied hard.
_____________________________________________
Special
Notes:
| 1. |
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If it is clear which past
action happened first,
a past tense may be used instead of
the past
perfect tense:
I wasn't hungry at dinnertime.
I ate / had
eaten a very large lunch. ("Dinnertime" and
"lunch" make it clear which action was first.)
Luis promised / had
promised that he
would stay with his
younger brother, so he
couldn't come to the party. ("So" makes
it
clear that "couldn't come" was the result
and, therefore, the more recent action.)
He expected
/ had expected to win,
but he didn't.
(Logically, "expected" could
only be before
"didn't win": it couldn't
logically
be at the same time or after
"didn't
win.")
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| 2. |
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The past perfect is particularly
important
when the time adverbial contains "when"
(because "when" doesn't show which of
two actions happened first):
When I stepped (2) into the
shower,
the phone had rung (1).
When I had stepped (1) into
the shower,
the phone rang (2).
The phone rang (2) when I
had stepped (1)
into the shower.
The phone had rung (1) when
I stepped
into the shower. (2)
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