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Tips For Learning The Past Perfect Tense
Learn to master the Past Perfect tense effectively at our San Diego English school, where experienced teachers offer practical tips and guidance tailored to your learning needs.
Learn to master the Past Perfect tense effectively at our San Diego English school, where experienced teachers offer practical tips and guidance tailored to your learning needs.
As soon as you enrolled in a school for English language learning in San Diego, you realized that mastering some tenses would be really challenging. For instance, the Present Perfect seems beyond understanding. You’re always worried you aren’t using it correctly. And then there’s the Past Perfect Tense. Will you ever get a handle on it?
Well, we’re here to help you out. While you may be able to use Present Perfect Tense properly and recognize common mistakes people make while using it, in the following article we offer a few useful pointers on the Past Perfect Tense. Read on!
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By definition, the Past Perfect Tense describes something that happened before something else in the past. Here is how you can use it naturally in your everyday life:
We need this tense when it isn’t clear what happened first in the past. Here’s an example to illustrate this.
The sentence with the Past Perfect Tense clarifies what happened first (she left her bag at home and then reached the bus station).
The tense isn’t necessary if we are simply listing past events one after another. In that case, the Past Simple Tense is appropriate.
The sequence of events is evident, so we don’t need Past Perfect forms.
If we want to express regret or talk about a hypothetical situation in the past, we’ll use the Past Perfect Tense.
When reporting the Present Perfect Tense or the Past Simple Tense, we need to backshift, i.e. change these tenses into Past Perfect forms.
Sometimes, the shift doesn’t need to take place. For instance, if the original statement is still relevant or refers to the future.
Check out this example:
Once you become aware of the existence of the Past Perfect Tense, you probably tend to use it more often than you should. To make sure you really need this tense and avoid making mistakes, you need to ask yourself the following:
1. Are there two or more activities that happened in the past? If yes, is it clear in what order they happened if you simply use the Past Simple Tense? If it’s not, you’ll need the Past Perfect Tense.
When she saw him at the theater, she realized she had met him before.
2. Do you want to talk about something you wish you could change about your past? If the answer is affirmative, you’ll have to use this tense too.
I wish I had met him before.
So, does the Past Perfect sound less frightening now? Maybe not? Well, don’t get discouraged right away. There’s a way out. Simply come to the College of English Language and learn with experienced teachers in hi-tech classrooms in the vicinity of the Gaslamp Quarter. Drop by today and let's perfect the present-day Lingua-Franca together!
