Past Perfect

 

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Past Perfect 

Forming the Past Perfect

The past perfect is formed with "had" + the past participle of the main verb:

• I had finished the work.

• She had gone home.

The past perfect continuous is formed with "had been" + the -ing form of the verb:

• I had been working there for a year.

• They had been painting the bedroom.

Using the Past Perfect

The past perfect is used similarly to the present perfect, but it refers to an action completed before another past action or time.

We use the past perfect:

1. For actions that started in the past and continued up to a specific past time:

   • When George died, he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years.

   • She didn’t want to move. She had lived in Liverpool all her life.

2. To show that one past action happened before another:

   • When I arrived, the train had already left.

   • She had never flown before her trip to Paris.

3. In reported speech (when the original statement was in the present perfect or past simple):

   • He said, "I have seen that movie." → He said he had seen that movie.

   • She told me, "I lost my keys." → She told me she had lost her keys.

Past Perfect Continuous

We use the past perfect continuous to emphasize duration or an ongoing action before another past event:

• He had been waiting for hours when she finally arrived.

• They had been traveling for weeks before they reached their destination.

This tense often explains why something happened in the past:

• She was tired because she had been working all day.

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