THE PAST PERFECT

                    THE PAST PERFECT.

The objective of this class is to learn about The PAST PERFECT, which indicates that an action was completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in the past before something else happened. This tense is formed with the past tense form of "to have" (HAD) plus the past participle of the verb (which can be either regular or irregular in form).

We use the past perfect to show that one event in the past took place before another past event. The past perfect signals the earlier. The simple past signals the later event.

   When we arrived, the party had already started. (= First the party started and then      we arrived.)

   She had already left when I called. (= First she left and then I called.)

   We just learned that she had a child. (=She had the child first and then we learned    about it.)

We form the past perfect with had + past participle.

STATEMENTS
I/You/He/She/It/We/They	had left	by the time I got there.
I/You/He/She/It/We/They	had not left	by the time I got there.
	hadn't left

We often use the past perfect in sentences with because or when.

•  She was upset because she had missed her flight.
•  She was late to the airport because she had forgotten to set her alarm clock.
•  When she got to the airport, the plane had already taken off.
•  I had just fallen asleep when the phone rang. 

We often use the past perfect in sentences with by the time + a simple past verb.

 * By the time I was 21, I had traveled all over the world.

 * She had already left by the time I got there.

The words before and after can also make the order of events clear. when we use these words, the past perfect is not required.

Ø  They arrived a few minutes after we left.

Ø  We ate dinner before they arrived.