PAST PERFECT TENSE

How to form the PAST perfect tense?

had + past participle 

How do we use the present perfect tense?

We use the past perfect tense to talk about two(2) relating events which have happened in the past. By using the past perfect tense, we can emphasise which of the two events happened first.

Event 1 : He ate his breakfast.

Event 2 : The bell rang. 

In these two sentences, we don't know which event happened first.

Read the following sentence,

He had eaten his breakfast when the bell rang. 

Explanation:

• From this sentence, we know that Event 1 happened first followed by Event 2. 
• Both events have already taken place in the past.
• Event 1 is written in the past perfect tense because it happened first.
• Event 2 is written in the past tense because it came next.

Examples:

1. When the car exploded, she had already gotten out from the car.

Event 1: She had already gotten out from the car. (written in the past perfect tense because it happened first)

Event 2: The car exploded. (written in the past tense because it happened later than Event 1)

2. They had slept when a burglar broke into their house.

Event 1: They had slept. (written in the past perfect tense because it happened first)

Event 2: A burglar broke into their house. (written in the past tense because it happened later than Event 1)

MUHAMAD FARID BIN RUSLI
18560
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
TUTORIAL GROUP 11