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English Grammar Drills

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138 Verb Phrases<br />

Past perfect<br />

The past perfect consists of had followed by a verb in the past participle form. The past perfect is<br />

used to emphasize that a past-time action or event was completed prior to some more recent (but<br />

still past) action or event. Here are some examples:<br />

past perfect<br />

past<br />

They had already graduated before they got married.<br />

past<br />

perfect<br />

past<br />

I had left by the time I got their message.<br />

past<br />

perfect<br />

I had been an intern with them for a year before they made me a permanent offer.<br />

past<br />

perfect<br />

past<br />

They had had a big fight before they broke up.<br />

past<br />

In all the examples that we have looked at so far, the verb in the past perfect form has preceded<br />

the verb in the past-tense form. This sequence seems perfectly logical since the past perfect event<br />

has to occur before the second past-tense event occurs.<br />

Logical it may be, but that is not the way <strong>English</strong> works. In fact, the two events can be presented<br />

in either order. Here is an example of the same sentence in both orders:<br />

past<br />

perfect<br />

past<br />

He had taken out a life insurance policy before he died.<br />

past<br />

past<br />

perfect<br />

Before he died, he had taken out a life insurance policy.<br />

The fact that we cannot count on the past perfect event being presented before the more recent<br />

past time event makes using the past perfect a great deal more difficult.<br />

Exercise 9.4<br />

In the following sentences, the verbs in italics are all in the base form. The verbs are used to<br />

describe two past-time events, one of which precedes the other. Change the verb whose action<br />

takes place first into the past perfect form. Change the verb whose action takes place later into the<br />

past-tense form. Remember that the two events can occur in either order in the sentence.

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