Past Perfect Tense

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DevDev
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Posts: 10
Joined: Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:49 am
Status: Learner of English

Past Perfect Tense

Post by DevDev »

I have two doubts in this, we normally use it when we want to talk about
two past tense events, we use 'had' for the first instance and past tense
for the second one.

a) When we use it in a single past tense instance, does it mean that it was done
already, like

I had already completed it.

Then, how this is different from

'I have already completed it.'

b) I find a person, using it commonly, where past tense could be more appropriate, like

'my battery had gone down' instead of

'my battery went down'

c) I know it can be used in reported, indirect sentences while changing from
past tense to past perfect tense.

Please give me more examples on when to use this form 'HAD' correctly, precisely.

d) When we talk about specific time, it is more appropriate to use past tence.
Like, I completed this work on so and so time.

Suppose, if I want to express about two past tense events, mention the time
for the first instance, can I use 'had' there, for example,

'I had taken leave on 'xyz' date and took your approval on 'xyz + 2' date.'

or

Is it correct to say,

'I took leave on 'xyz' date and got your approval on 'xyz + 2' date.'

Thank you.
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Tukanja
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Posts: 535
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:47 pm
Status: Learner of English

Re: Past Perfect Tense

Post by Tukanja »

DevDev, you asked a lot of questions. I'll try to answer them all. Please note I am a learner.
DevDev wrote:I have two doubts in this, we normally use it when we want to talk about
two past tense events, we use 'had' for the first instance and past tense
for the second one.

a) When we use it in a single past tense instance, does it mean that it was done
already, like

I had already completed it.

Then, how this is different from

'I have already completed it.'
I had already completed job X before I completed job Y, so I have completed both of them and now you must be satisfied.

I hope you've got it from the example above.


b) I find a person, using it commonly, where past tense could be more appropriate, like

'my battery had gone down' instead of
'my battery went down'
"My battery had gone down" could be right if it had gone down before some other battery went down in the same sentence or it has been used in such context.
c) I know it can be used in reported, indirect sentences while changing from
past tense to past perfect tense.

Please give me more examples on when to use this form 'HAD' correctly, precisely.
"to have" could be used as either a lexical or auxiliary verb. If one uses it as a lexical/main verb the form "had" represents the past simple tense. If "to have" is used as an auxiliary then it sometimes changes its form to "had" due to the grammar rules which have to be applied when forming every particular verb tense.

I have to get it. have to ~ phrasal modal
I have got ~ have here is an auxiliary used in order to form the present perfect tense
I had got ~ past perfect tense
I had been getting
I would have got it
I will have got it

etc.
'to have" can be used two times in the same sentence, one time as auxiliary and the second time as a lexical verb as in the sentence below
I
had had a car before he had a bicycle. Now, he doesn't at all know how many cars he has.
had ~ auxiliary
had ~ main verb
had ~ main verb of the latter clause, the simple past tense

d) When we talk about specific time in the simple/first past, it is more appropriate to use the simple or some other past tense.
Like "I completed this work at some definite time in the past".

Suppose, if I want to express about two past tense events, mention the time
for the first instance, can I use 'had' there, for example,

'I had taken leave on 'xyz' date and took your approval on 'xyz + 2' date.' Wrong

or

Is it correct to say,

'I took leave on 'xyz' date and got your approval on 'xyz + 2' date.' This is the correct way. The two events took its places one after another and have been mentioned with the same time order.

Thank you.
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