The Past Perfect Tense: Additional Exercise in The Pear Tree Blog

An additional exercise on the Past Perfect Tense can be found in the `Our Blog' section of The Pear Tree Centre for Education.

Attempt the exercise and look out for the answers, with suggested explanations, in the upcoming blog post.

To gain a greater understanding of the Perfect Tense, join the grammar course at The Pear Tree Centre for Education.

Past Perfect Tense (Explanations to given exercise)

Suggested Explanations:

• I had not felt like stepping outdoors for several days now.  

The `several days' indicate that whatever had happened took place over a period of time.  To demonstrate the `feeling' that lasted for `several days', the past perfect tense, `had not felt' is used.

• This indiscriminate burning had gone on for too long, I thought to myself at that time.

`Too long' indicates that the `indiscriminate burning' took place over a period of time.

• Indeed, it was a welcomed respite from the hazy conditions that we had been experiencing for the last few days. 

Here there are two verbs, namely `was' and `had been experiencing'.  So, in order to differentiate between the timings of the occurrences of the two events that are connect to each other and had already taken place, or are in the past, the past perfect tense is used to indicate which of the two took place first. In this case, the hazy conditions that `we had been experiencing' took place first before the welcomed respite (`it was'). 

• I wanted to breathe in the air that was fresher than it had been previously.

There are three verbs in the statement above, namely `wanted', `was' and `had been'. To differentiate between the timings of two inter-related occurrences, the perfect tense is used for the first related occurrence.

There is a comparison between the quality of the air at two moments in the past. The air had gradually become fresher. When it was less fresh, the past perfect tense is used to indicate what the quality of the air was before it became fresher later. 

The Past Perfect Tense

The perfect tense can leave many baffled. When do you actually use it? Why is it used instead of the present tense (in the case of present perfect tense) or the past tense (in the case of the past perfect tense)?

In the first instance, let us narrow the focus to just one, namely the past perfect tense and attempt to gain a better understanding of it before going into other kinds of perfect tenses.

Firstly, we must remember that the past perfect tense belongs to the family of `tenses'; hence, we are looking at time-frame. Allow me to go over a couple of reasons for using the past perfect tense.

Now take a look at the following exercise and attempt to explain why the past perfect tense is used in each of the cases.

I had not felt like stepping outdoors for several days now.  The air even smelt of the burning that was taking place thousands of miles away in the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Kalimantan. This indiscriminate burning had gone on for too long, I thought to myself at that time.

Then, the heavens parted and the beautiful rain poured down in torrents.  I sighed in relief.  Indeed, it was a welcomed respite from the hazy conditions that we had been experiencing for the last few days. When it stopped raining, I walked out for a stroll.  I wanted to breathe in the air that was fresher than it had been previously.

Suggested explanations, to cross-reference with those that you may have come up with, will be offered soon.