SCHOOL SECUNDARY OF KASSUMBADEDZA

ENGLISH WORK

TOPIC: THE PAST PERFECT TENSE

Name of Student:

Hurate António Azarate

Class: 12; A4

Tete, April of 2024

Índice
1.Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1

1.1.Objectives .............................................................................................................. 2

1.1.1.General Objective: ............................................................................................... 2

1.1.1.1.Specifics Objectives:......................................................................................... 2

2.Past Perfect tense ..................................................................................................... 3

2.1.Structure of the Simple Past Perfect Tense ............................................................. 3

2.2.Uses of the Simple Past Perfect Tense .................................................................... 3

2.3. Forms of the Simple Past Perfect Tense ............................................................ 6

2.3.1. Affirmative form ................................................................................................. 6

2.3.2. Negative form ..................................................................................................... 6

2.3.3. Interrogative form ............................................................................................... 7

2.4. Spelling of the Simple Past Perfect Tense ............................................................ 7

3.Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 9

4. Bibliography Reference ........................................................................................ 10

1. Introduction
Use the past perfect when you want to refer to a past action, state, or event that
occurred prior to another time in the past. The more recent past time may be
expressed as a prepositional phrase or as a clause in which another action, state,
or event is mentioned.
 Past action before past time: They had finished the project by Friday.
 Past state before past action: He had been depressed before he went on
vacation.

You can also use the past perfect to refer to a hypothetical action, state, or event.

 Hypothetical action: If they had come earlier, they would have received
free tickets.

The past perfect consists of the auxiliary verb have (had) and the perfect/passive
form of the main verb. The auxiliary verb is marked for past tense (had). The
perfect/passive verb form is used to indicate either the perfect aspect or the
passive voice. The perfect/passive form for regular verbs consists of the base
form of the verb and the ending -ed.

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 1.1. Objectives
1.1.1. General Objective:
 Know the Simple Past Perfect Tense.
1.1.1.1.Specifics Objectives:
 Describe the Simple Past Perfect Tense;
 Know the structure of the Simple Past Perfect Tense;
 Use the Simple Past Perfect Tense;
 Describe the forms of the Simple Past Perfect Tense;
 Know the spelling ruler.

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 2. Past Perfect Tense

Use the Past Perfect when you want to refer to a past action, state, or event that
occurred prior to another time in the past. The more recent past time may be expressed
as a prepositional phrase or as a clause in which another action, state, or event is
mentioned. It is sometimes supposed that we use the past perfect simply to describe
'events that happened a long time ago.

For exemple:

 They had finished the project by Friday.

 We had studied English.
 I had not played football.

2.1. Structure of the Simple Past Perfect Tense

The Simple Past Perfect Tense is formed with the:

Subject + Had + Main verb in Past Participle + Object.

For example:

 You had played cards.

 We had gone to the beach every week.

 She had eaten an apple.

2.2. Uses of the Simple Past Perfect Tense

We use the Simple Past Perfect Tense when:

I. We describe 'events that happened a long time ago.

For Example:

 She had played cards when I was child.

 We had studied English in 1998.

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 II. The past perfect referring to an earlier past

The main use of the past perfect is to show which of two events happened first. Here
are two past events:

 The patient died The doctor arrived.

We can combine these two sentences in different ways to show their relationship in
the past:

 The patient died when the doctor arrived (i.e. the patient died at the time or just
after the doctor arrived).
 The patient had died when the doctor arrived (i.e. the patient was already dead
when the doctor arrived).

The event that happened first need not be mentioned first:

 The doctor arrived quickly, but the patient had already died.

III. The past perfect as the past equivalent of the present perfect

The past perfect sometimes functions simply as the past form of the present perfect:

 Juliet is excited because she has never been to a dance before Juliet was excited
because she had never been to a dance before This is particularly the case in
indirect speech.

Used in this way, the past perfect can emphasize completion:

 I began collecting stamps in February and by November I had collected more

than 2000.

Yet can be used with the past perfect, but we often prefer expressions like until then or
by that time. Compare:

 He hasn't finished yet.

 He hadn't finished by yesterday evening.

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 IV. The past perfect for unfulfilled hopes and wishes

We can use the past perfect (or the past simple or progressive) with verbs like expect
hope, mean, suppose, think want, to describe things we hoped or wished to do but
didn't:

 I had hoped to send him a telegram to congratulate him on his marriage, but I
didn't manage it.

V. Obligatory and non-obligatory uses of the past perfect

We do not always need to use the past perfect to describe which event came first.
Sometimes this is perfectly clear, as in:

 After I finished, I went home.

The sequence is often clear in relative clauses as well:

 I wore the necklace (which) my grandmother (had) left me.

We normally use the simple past for events that occur in sequence:

 I got out of the taxi, paid the fare, tipped the driver and dashed into the
station.

But there are instances when we need to be very precise in our use of past or past
perfect, particularly with when:

 When I arrived, Anne left (i.e. at that moment).

 When I arrived, Anne had left (i.e. before I got there).

We normally use the past perfect with conjunctions like no sooner than or
hardly/scarcely/barely when.

 Mrs Winthrop had no sooner left the room than they began to gossip about
her.
 Mr Jenkins had hardly/scarcely/barely begun his speech when he was
interrupted.

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2.3. Forms of the Simple Past Perfect Tense

2.3.1. Affirmative form

Subject + Had+ Main verb in Past Participle + Object.

Example:

 I had studied English.

 You had read a book.

 He had cleaned the house.

 She had bought a new car.

 It had eaten the fish.

 We had watched TV.

 They had made noise!

2.3.2. Negative form

Subject + Had + Not + Main verb in Past Participle + Object.

Example:

 I had not studied English.

 You had not played well.

 He had not cleaned the house.

 She had not bought a car.

 It had not eaten the fish.

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 We had not played football.

 You had not gone to school.

 They had not learned English well.

2.3.3. Interrogative form

The past of the verb to have (had) + subject + the main verb in the past
participle + object?

Example:

 Had I studied English?

 Had you played football?

 Had he cleaned the house?

 Had she bought car?

 Had it eaten fish?

 Had we studied English well?

 Had you done your homework?

 Had they watching TV?

2.4. Spelling of the Simple Past Perfect Tense

When a one-syllable word or a word with a stressed final syllable ends in a single
consonant sound, double the last letter before adding -ed.

 One-syllable word: pet ➞ petted Word ending in a stressed syllable: admit ➞

admitted

 BUT: sew ➞ sewed [This word ends in a vowel sound.]

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The perfect/passive forms of irregular verbs can be found in the appendix. The
following are common irregular verb patterns:

 Pattern 1: The final d becomes a t.: build➞built; lend➞ lent; spend ➞ spent.

 Pattern 2: A -d or -t suffix is added. The vowel changes. feel ➞ fil/felt; keep ➞

kept; sold ➞ sold.

 Pattern 3: An -n or -en suffix is added. eat➞eaten; fall➞fallen; know ➞ known;

Sometimes the vowel changes. speak➞spoken; wear➞ worn.

 Pattern 4: Just the vowel changes. hold➞ hold/ held; meet➞ met; sit➞ sat.

 Pattern 5: The base form and perfect/passive form are the same. put➞put; hit➞
hit; cut➞cut.

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 3. Conclusion

The past perfect tense is used for decribe actions that happened before another action
in the past.

The past perfect tense is formed by the verb "to have" in the simple past tense (had)
how auxiliary verb, followed by the past participle of the main verb. It is used to
express actions that began in the past and that have relevance in the present.

For example: "I had studied English for five years."

Structure:

The Past Perfect Tense is formed with the:

Subject + Had + Main verb in Past Participle + Object.

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4. Bibliography Reference
 Murphy, R. (2012). English Grammar in Use. Cambridge University Press.

 Raymond Murphy, English Grammar in Use, Cambridge University Press,

United Kingdom, 1994.

 Swan, M. (2005). Practical English Usage. Oxford University Press.

 Trindade Nahara and Derek Strange, Communicating in English, Sam Mtetwa,

Moçambique, 1995.

 Longman English Grammar/L G Alexander, consultant, R A Close, 2003.

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