Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2022)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Lessons / Using the past perfect tense

Using the past perfect tense

December 2, 2012 - pdf

Form:

Affirmative Interrogative Negative
I had worked. Had I worked? I had not worked.
She had played. Had she played? She had not played.
It had rained. Had it rained? It had not rained.
They had waited. Had they waited? They had not waited.
You had promised. Had you promised? You had not promised.

As you can see in the past perfect tense, the auxiliary verb had is used with both singular and plural nouns.

Uses

The past perfect tense is not usually used alone. It is mainly used with the simple past tense and then it refers to an action that has already happened by the time another action had commenced.

  • The patient had died before the doctor arrived. (NOT The patient died before the doctor had arrived.)

We use the past perfect tense for the earlier of the two past actions.

  • The train had left before we reached the station. (NOT The train left before we had reached the station.)
  • I had cooked the meals before the kids came home from school.
  • I had finished one project before I started the next.

In many cases we can use time conjunctions like before and after to indicate that one action had taken place before another commenced. The use of past perfect tense is optional in this case. That means you can use it but it is not necessary.

  • After he finished the project he went to Australia for a month. OR
  • After he had finished the project he went to Australia for a month.

Note that the past perfect tense is only used as described above. It is not used to simply say that something happened some time ago.

  • I met an old friend of mine yesterday. (NOT I had met an old friend of mine yesterday.)
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,127,749 
201,073 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Will vs. Would June 26, 2022
  • See vs. Look vs. Watch June 23, 2022
  • General Grammar Exercise June 21, 2022
  • Tenses Gap Filling Exercise June 21, 2022
  • Gap Filling Exercise June 20, 2022
  • Subject Verb Agreement Exercise June 20, 2022
  • Prepositions Exercise June 19, 2022
  • Gap Filling Exercise June 19, 2022
  • Tenses Exercise June 18, 2022

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2022 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap