CHAPTER 7

7.1. USES AND MEANINGS OF SIMPLE PAST PERFECT

TENSE AND CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT TENSE
PAST PERFECT SIMPLE

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

1. to express an action that started, 1. for an action in progress throughout a

developed and was completed before

another past action; it is an earlier
past:
She told me she had caught a cold.
He admitted he had made some mistakes.
2. with an action which started before a
past moment and went on:
a) up to that moment or
b) at that moment, too.
Paul had waited there for a few minutes
and left.
He had lived there for many years.

period:
I was very tired. I had been working all
day long.
2. a) to point out duration:
It was now 10 and he felt terrible pains in
his leg, because he had been digging in the
garden since daybreak.
b) to emphasize duration and express
irritation, annoyance:
He was in a rage because he had been
working for a lot of hours/ since morning in
vain.
3. to emphasize duration and modality:

3. with adverbs like:

for two years
since 1999 (January, last night)
It was getting late and I felt dead tired; I
just
had been reading since noon.
already
I had been travelling a lot lately.
yet
Well, I had just been talking to him but
lately
in vain; I felt I was getting sick of all that.
that week
They had been trying hard that year
those days
to turn an honest penny.
when the action is viewed from the past:
They had been married for ten
years/since 1996.
When I got home he had just left.
The crops had been very poor that year
because of the drought.

4. with adverbs of frequency (always, ever, 4. with adverbs of frequency to express

never, often, rarely, seldom):
modality (irritation, annoyance):
He had often gone to see the kids in the
But I told you Id never been talking to
park.
her!
5. with after and before to emphasize the 5.
completion of the action:
After we had looked over the house we
decided to buy it.
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No corresponding value

with before it refers to a later action

which was not completed. Past Tense can
also be used:
There was a knock at the door before I had
realized what was going on.
. before I realized .
6. a) to emphasize the idea of completion:
6.a) to emphasize a continuing activity:
I had read all the papers then I went to bed.
I had been reading for the exam all day
b) for quicker or shorter actions:
long and now I had a splitting headache.
b) for longer actions or situations, which
I was very upset because of what she had had been going on continuously up to a
said.
certain past moment, i.e. the moment we are
talking about:
When he came over I had been listening
to a very interesting play on the radio.
7. to express a permanent situation:
7. to express a temporary action or
situation:
The palace had stood there for centuries.
His feet were swollen because he had
been walking for two hours.
8. common in reported speech after past 8. in reported speech after these verbs when
verbs such as said, replied, told, asked, duration is emphasized:
wondered:
He said he had been waiting there for at
He said he had been ill.
least twenty minutes.
I wondered what they had wanted from
He answered that he had just been
him.
talking to her.
She replied that they had already made a
deal.
9. to express unrealized hopes and wishes: 9. for stronger desires:
I had hoped we would be able to look in
We had been hoping we would see him
at the museum tomorrow to see that tomorrow.
Rembrandt once again, but the guide cannot
come because he has caught a bad cold.
10. after if
10.
wish
if only
would rather
No corresponding value
to refer to past actions or events that did not
happen; it is called Unreal Past Perfect:
If you had come earlier you would have
found him at home. (but you didnt)
I wish I had been there too. (but I wasnt)
If only you had told me what was going
on. (but you didnt)
I would rather you had gone there
yourself. (but you didnt)

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11.
after it was the first time
11.
It was the first time I had been in that castle
and I was fascinated.

No corresponding value

NOT used:
with sequences of past events, when the past events are mentioned in the order in
which they happened. Past Tense is used instead:
He asked a question but I refused to answer.
I was surprised and it even upset me, but I tried not to give myself away.
Past Simple is often used instead of the Past Perfect in dependent clauses after a
Past Perfect verb:
He said that somebody had brought me the books when I was out. (instead of when I
had been out.)

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7.2. INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES

Exercise 1. Discuss on the differences between Simple Past Perfect and Past Perfect
Continuous.
Exercise 2. Comment on the adverbs which require Past Perfect Simple and
Continuous.
Exercise 3. Express permanent and temporary actions and situations using Past Perfect
Simple and Continuous.
Exercise 4. Refer to the adverbs of frequency and indefinite time used with Past Perfect.
Exercise 5. Use the words in brackets in the Past Tense, Past Perfect Simple or
Continuous:
[...] Settling back in his chair he (to close) his eyes. Some thistledown (to come)
on that little air, and (to pitch) on his moustache that was more white than itself. He (not
to know); but his breathing (to stir) it; (to catch) there.
A ray of sunlight (to strike) through and (to lodge) on his boot. A humble-bee (to
alight) and (to stroll) on the crown of his Panama hat
The clock (to strike) the quarter past. The dog Balthasar (to stretch) and (to look)
up at his master. The thistledown no longer (to move). The dog (to place) his chin over
the sunlit foot. It (not to sit). The dog (to withdraw) his chin quickly, (to rise) and (to
leap) on old Jolyons lap, (to look) in his face, (to whine); then, leaping down, (to sit) on
his haunches, gazing up. And suddenly he (to utter) a long, long howl.

Exercise 6. Consider the actions expressed by the verbs in the fragment below from a
past perspective:
Accustomed to having people trust her and confide in her, Mrs. Ramsay feels
Carmichaels reserve is a personal insult. She blames his coldness, however, on his wife,
who has treated him badly and, she feels, has given him a suspicious attitude towards
women. Irritated by her failure to charm Carmichael, she continues to read the story of
the Fisherman and his Wife to her young son.
Mr. Ramsay pauses on the terrace to observe his wife and child at the window and
is refreshed by the sight. His mind is occupied in working out the necessity for the
existence of a working class, and the significance of great artists for such a class. His
intellectual integrity obliges him to face these bleak questions squarely and it is this
quality of honesty which has inspired the great affection and respect of his wife and
friends. He turns from the impersonality of the sea and his philosophical quest and gazes
again at his wife and son, reflecting that his domestic ties, however detrimental to his
intellectual progress, have made him a happy man.
(V. Woolf, To the Lighthouse)

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Exercise 7. Comment on the uses and meanings of Past Perfect in the following
paragraphs:
Bathsheba found that she could not wait until Boldwoods return, so she sent him
a letter. She wrote that she had thought carefully about his offer, but had decided she
could not marry him.
Sergeant Troy had also gone away for a few days to visit friends, and Bathsheba
had time to think. But she could not think clearly about anything, and her moods changed
from minute to minute. Liddy found her very difficult to live with. [...]
Farmer Boldwood knew that as well. Bathshebas letter, and the rumours in
Weatherbury about Troy, had killed his hope of happiness. He moved like a man in a
black dream. [...]
One night, at the end of August, when Bathsheba had not been a married woman
for very long, a man stood in her farmyard, looking up at the moon and sky. A hot wind
was blowing from the south, and among the hurrying clouds the moon shone with a
strange, hard light.
Gabriel Oak looked round the farmyard with worried eyes. The harvest had
finished and there were eight enormous, uncovered piles of corn in the yard most of the
farms riches for the year.
(Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd)
Exercise 8. Turn the following excerpt into the past:
Sarah completes her confession, explaining that after he returned to France,
Varguennes wrote to her that he was married and she replied that she never wanted to see
him again. However, she has told no one except Charles of this sequel, obscurely wishing
people to see her in a bad light. Charles is perplexed, but tries to persuade her to leave
Lyme. As they talk they hear Sam and Mary coming towards them; they conceal
themselves and watch the other couple flirting and kissing. It is an emotive moment for
them both, and when Sarah smiles at Charles in complicity he almost loses his head.
However, any crisis is averted, and they part, with Sarah leaving first and Charles waiting
behind for a while.
(John Fowles, The French Lieutenants Woman)
Exercise 9. Translate into English paying attention to the uses and meanings of the Past
Perfect Tense:
n sfrit, confeciunea rochiei-jucrie ajungnd la un stadiu care necesita intervenia
mainii de cusut, Adela mi-a druit privirile, amnnd croitoria pentru alt dat.
I-am artat o fotografie de cnd aveam douzeci de ani, pe care o port n portofoliu
la un loc cu alte fotografii de familie. ineam de cteva zile s i-o art s m vad
ntr-un ipostas favorabil chiar cu primejdia de a suferi de comparaia cu mine nsumi,
s vad c tinerea nu este un atribut care se exclude cu ideea de son matre, c...
Dup ce a privit fotografia ca un expert (aveam sentimentul curios c am delegat pe
cineva s m reprezinte ntr-o afacere important), Adela spuse cu toat hotrrea: E mai
bine acum, da, e mai bine.
(G. Ibrileanu, Adela)

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