Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used.
He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten to buy bread.
The hotel was full, so I was glad that we'd booked in advance.
My new job wasn't exactly what I’d expected.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Time up to a point in the past
We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.
She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.
We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?
Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions
We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.
When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.
The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
Note that if there's only a single event, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.
The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT
The Romans had spoken Latin.)
Past perfect with before
We can also use the past perfect followed by before to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.
They left before I'd spoken to them.
Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.
Adverbs
We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.
I called his office but he'd already left.
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
Had you ever visited London when you moved there?
I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Reza,
Yes, that sentence is perfectly fine. Well done!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
Unless there is a second past time reference point in another sentence in the wider context, there is no need to use the past perfect in the first sentence. A past simple is fine:
In your second sentence is is required. We would usually put now after it:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
'she'd just had one' is a shorter way of saying 'she had just had one'. Here the verb 'have' is used in two different ways. The first 'had' ('she had just had one') is the auxiliary verb 'have' in the past tense, which is the first part of a past perfect verb.
The second 'had' ('she had just had one') is the past participle of the main verb 'have', which here means 'to consume', that is, 'to drink'. I believe that in Italian you would say 'prendere un caffè' for 'have a coffee' here.
Does that make sense?
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Anna,
The first sentence is correct. I think we'd be more likely to say shot rather than had shot in the first part of the sentence, however, as there is no need to emphasise the connection between the two actions.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Praveen
'they published' is in the active voice and 'they were published' is in the passive voice. If you follow the link, I think the explanation on that page will clarify this for you, but if you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask us there.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Paula,
Yes, that's right. In that sentence she'd just is a contraction of she had just. It's a past perfect form because the action precedes and is relevant to another action in the past (not wanting another coffee).
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Lal,
The sentence is fine apart from one spelling issue: extraordinary should be one word, not two.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson
I'm afraid that's not correct. I'd recommend something like 'He was one of the most extraordinary man I've ever seen'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson
Yes, those first two pairs of sentences are all correct -- well done!
It is possible to say the other two pairs of sentences you ask about, but the first one ('Tim told Tom that John is at home') in particular would only be correct when we know that John is still at home at the time this sentence is used.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Nabeelah,
It's fine to use the past perfect for multiple actions so long as there is a later past time reference point. The past perfect has the meaning of before then, so there must be another point in the past before which the events take place. For example, your sentence without any context would not make sense as there is no later point of reference. Of course, in context there probably would be:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
Both forms are possible. When we shift the tense back in reported speech it does not mean that the action is in the past.
For example:
Direct speech:
Reported speech:
Both options are grammatically correct. The first sentence tells us that she liked me at the time she said it. It does not tell us if this is still true or not. The second tells us that she liked me at the time she said it and that it is still true today.
In your example, the context within the sentence (until he came) already tells us that the action is still true, so whether or not the tense is present (need) or past (needed) makes no difference.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello _princess_,
Both are possible. The choice of which to use depends upon the context and the speaker's intention.
When we want to show a straightforward sequence of events we use the past simple, as in your first example. When it is important for some reason to emphasise that one action came before another, or when the later event is in some way dependent on or changed by the earlier event, we can use the past perfect with a past simple, as in your second example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello _princess_
As with the other sentences you asked about, it really depends on the context. Without any context or statement after it (e.g. 'He'd been practising grammar for two hours when his teacher told him he needed to study vocabulary'), the second one would be quite strange. The the first one, on the other hand, could make sense in many different situations.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
Normally, we do not use modal verbs in both halves of a conditional sentence, but it is possible when we want to make the condition more tentative. In this case, the sense of 'If you would only give us...' is 'If you were willing to give us...'
You can see this used sometimes to add politeness:
'Would' is the past form (used to show an unreal or unlikely action or event) of 'will', but that does not mean it is not a modal verb. In this case, it is both.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
Both sentences are possible. The verb form in the first clause is passive and the auxiliary verb is omitted, which means we do not know if it is a present simple passive or a past simple passive. That is why both will and would are possible:
The first sentences describes a likely or plausible condition and its result. The second sentence describes a condition which the speaker sees as unlikely or impossible.
Both will and would are modal verbs.
The difference between the sentences is one of plausibility or likelihood, not politeness.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
Modal verbs are one kind of auxiliary verb, which is what I think you mean by 'ancilliary verb'. You can see a list of auxiliary verbs in English here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auxiliary_verb#List_of_auxiliaries_in_English
You can read about the three moods in English (indicative, subjunctive and imperative), as well about how modal verbs relate to the topic, here:
https://grammarianism.wordpress.com/2015/08/27/mood-and-modality-what-is-the-difference/
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson
The second one is not correct. The first is correct, but a little strange -- I would say 'if' instead of 'once'. With 'once', I would want to say 'Once you have it, you will start using it'.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson
You might hear the first, but the second one is better.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Manar Ragheb,
There is a difference in meaning:
In the first sentence (had cooked) the cooking is finished before you got up.
In the second sentence (cooked) the cooking began when you got up.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson,
I would recommend you use 'about', which is the most commonly used preposition in cases such as these. 'of' is not incorrect, it's just a bit archaic and would make you sound strange in most contexts.
By the way, both of the questions are incorrect in standard British (or American) English: questions in the present simple use the auxiliary verb 'do': 'What do people say about me?'.
'Forgive us of our sins' is another archaic form; it means the same thing as 'forgive us our sins' and is part of a passage from the Christian Bible that is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello kingson
If you haven't already, the first thing I'd recommend is that you carefully study example sentences in the dictionary. As you can see there, this verb has quite a few different meanings. 'Call me', by the far the most common of the three you ask about, can therefore mean quite a few different things which you can see perfectly well in the dictionary.
It's difficult for me to imagine all possible situations in which one might say 'Call to me', but in general I'd say it is a way of giving instructions to someone to get my attention at some point in time.
'Call unto me' is not really used outside of very specific contexts any more. You might find it in a passage from an older translation of the Bible, for example, but it would be quite unusual to hear or read it in most places nowadays.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kingson,
If the girl works in the office now then a present simple is the most obvious choice:
Of course, this does not tell us that the girl worked in the office when your friend got married, though that would be the most likely way to understand the sentence. If you needed to make it explicit, then you would need to add the information separately:
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team