UNIT 14. Past Perfect (I had done)

A

At 10:30 Eric go
At 11:00 Sarah back

Sarah went to a party last week.
Eric went to the party, too, but they didn’t see each other.
Eric left the party at 10:30 and Sarah got there at 11;00. So:
He had gone home.

Had gone is the past perfect(simple)

I / we / they / you | had | (=I’d, etc.) | gone, seen, finished. etc

he / she / it | had | (=he’d, etc.) | (同上)

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The past perfect is had + past participle (gone / seen / finished, etc).

Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past:

Sarah got to the party.

This is the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk about things that happened before this time, we use the past perfect (had …):

When Sarah arrived at the party, Eric had already gone home.

Some more example:

When we got home last night, we found that somebody had broken into our house.
Karen didn’t want to go to the movies with us because she’d already seen the film.
At first I thought I’d done the right thing, but I soon realized that I’d made a big mistake.
The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. He hadn’t flown before.
or … He had never flown before.

B

Compare the present (have seen, etc.) and the past perfect (had seen, etc.):

-—————————–
Present perfect

　　　=== have seen =====>|
-------------------------+------
past　　　　　　　　　　　　now

Who is that woman? I’ve never seen her before.
We aren’t hungry. We’ve just had lunch.
The house is dirty. They haven’t cleaned it for weeks.

-—————————–
Past perfect

　=== have seen =====>|　　　　　|
----------------------+--------+----
　　　　　　　　　　　　past　　　　now

I didn’t know who she was. I’d never seen her before. (= before that time)
We weren’t hungry. we’d just had lunch.
The house was dirty. They hadn’t cleaned it for weeks.
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C

Compare the simple past (left, was, etc.) and the past perfect (had left, had been, etc.):

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A : Was Tom there when you arrived?
B : Yes, but he left a little later.

Amy wasn’t at home when I called.
She was at her mother’s house.

-—————————–
A : Was Tom there when you arrived?
B : No, he had already left.

Amy had just gotten home when I called.
She had been at her mother’s house.

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