Two or more verbs in past perfect in the same sentence. How does that work?

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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Batal
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Two or more verbs in past perfect in the same sentence. How does that work?

Post by Batal »

Hi guys,

I have always been told that we use past perfect when two actions happened in the past, one before the other. I thought that there can be only one occurring of past perfect in a clause, yet I came across the following examples:

"She got to work late because she had left her phone at home and had had to go back and get it."

"The tourists' faces were very red. They had been sitting in the sun all morning and they hadn't put on any sun cream."

Can someone explain it to me? Can we use past perfect more than once in a sentence? What are the rules running it?

Thanks in advance!
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Alan
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Re: Two or more verbs in past perfect in the same sentence. How does that work?

Post by Alan »

There is no such rule as the one you cite.

If various actions predate the main past time frame any/all of them can be rendered by a past perfect.
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