Sometimes the Past Perfect does not denote priority but only the completion of the action.

The Squire was purple with anger before his son had done speaking.

5. T he Past Indefinite is sometimes used instead of the Past Perfect in clauses introduced by before and after owing to the lexical meaning of these conjunctions.

After he left (had left) the house, he recollected that he hadn’t locked the door.

He stood motionless after she disappeared.

6. With verbs which have terminative meaning as to arrive, to enter, to look in, to open, etc. the Past Indefinite is used when two actions closely follow each other. Verbs of motion and sense perception such as to come, to arrive, to return, to see, to hear, in adverbial clauses of time are generally used in the Past Indefinite and not in the Past Perfect. The actions are practically simultaneous.

When he heard the first line of the poem, he recognized it at once.

When I entered the room, I noticed that somebody was sitting at the table.

When the completion of the action is emphasized the Past Perfect is used.

He knew the poem by heart when he had heard it several times.

I noticed that somebody was sitting at the table only when I had already entered

the room.

◆ Notice the use of the Past Perfect and the Past indefinite in the following examples:

a) he had closed the window and was sitting in his armchair reading a newspaper.

b) He closed the window, sat down in the armchair and began reading his newspaper.

a) The rain had stopped and the sun was shining brightly.

b) The rain stopped and the sun came out again.

a) He had turned on the light and was sitting at his desk writing letters.

b) He turned on the light, sat down at his desk and began writing letters.

7. The Past Perfect is used to denote the action which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to that moment and was still going on at that moment. The starting point or the whole period of duration of the action is indicated. To indicate the starting point the preposition since is used, to indicate the whole period of duration for is used.

a) with verbs not admitting of the Continuous form:

Examination convinced him that the deacon was dead – had been dead for some time.

b) in negative sentences:

Those two had not spoken to each other for three days and were in a state of rage.

c) with non-terminative verbs such as to work, to live, to study, to teach, to travel, to last, etc.:

The ride had lasted about ten minutes, when the truck suddenly swerved to a halt.

THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14