PAST PERFECT TENSE

CEP I4 Class June 17th

The basic form

Past perfect tense Had + past participle

By the time John came home, Shirley had already gone to school.

She had taken biology classes before she enrolled in college.

He had received his college degree be-fore he traveled to Europe.

Past perfect is used to express that:A past action occurred before another past action ORA past action happened before a specific time in the past.

More Examples

When John was three, he had already learned to read.

By the time she turned eight, she had also mastered German.

When Alma was eight, she had already written her own music.

Tanishq Abraham, 9 year old College Prodigy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSYCwxt78jY(- 2:00)

Negative sentences

Past perfect She had not finished her homework

when her mother came home. He hadn’t paid his rent before the land-

lord called him. “Not” is placed between had and the

past participle

She had not sold her car before she moved to New York.