Past perfect-26

       

             

         Past perfect and past perfect continuous

                                                  

What are Tenses?
                              

Read The following sentences

He types fast.

He is typing fast.

He was typing fast.

He will be typing.

He has typed.

He has been typing.

In the above sentences the same verb  ‘type’ takes different forms

Tense of a verb  indicates the time of action (present/past/future etc.), it also shows continuation or completion of an action. Different tenses take different  verb forms .  Knowledge of tenses is very much  essential for sentence formation.  There are 12 tenses in English namely, present (simple), present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous, past (simple), past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous, future (Simple), future continuous, future perfect and future perfect continuous.

                                   PAST PERFECT TENSE

Prior Information

Subject: In a sentence doer of an action is called subject

Verb forms of see : see (Simple Present form), saw (Simple Past form) seen, (Past participle form)

                                 

When to use this tense?

When two activities  occur in the past, It is not clear ,which activity took place  earlier, to avoid this confusion t we use this tense.

Read this sentence

When Julia reached the station ,train had left / The Train had left when Julia reached the station.

First activity in the past – The train had left – Verb used here is past  participle form

Second activity  in the past – Julia reached the station – verb used here is Simple past form

Structure

There are two parts in this tense

Subject + simple past verb form + other words (First part). Subject +  had +  past participle verb form + other words (Second  part)

More sentences

When he reached the venue  the meeting  had already started.

The match had started before we entered the stadium.

He thanked me When I had given him the cash.

After they had gone, I sat  and rested (The noun rest I used as a verb)

They dressed after she had washed. (The noun dress is used as a verb)

The rebels had left, before the army arrived.

                     PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

       ALSO CALLED PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

                                   

When to use this tense?

This Tense  is used mainly, to show that an action had been in progress, when something else has happened.

When Mr. John came to the school in 1975, Ms. Clara  had been  teaching

There  for 7 years.

Structure:

There are two parts in this tense:

Subject + Simple  Past form of the verb + Other words (First Part). + Subject +had been+  present participle form of the verb + other words (Second part)

More sentences.

We had been waiting for you for 2 hours when you came to see us yesterday.

She had been learning French for 7 years  when her brother joined the language training.

When I landed at Olympic Stadium, my friends had already been watching the events  for a week.

When Obama became the president the rebels  in Afghanistan  had been waging a war  for several years.