Explanation | Examples |
Past Perfect is used for an action which
happened before another past action or
before a stated time in the past.
|
He had lived in Baku for 10 years before his
family moved to Iran in 1932.
After he had moved to the USA, he got married. |
Past Perfect can be used with by + a time
reference.
|
By 1959, Lotfi Zadeh had received
Ph.D and Doctor of Science degrees at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
Columbia University.
By the time he retired, he had done a lot of research. |
Past Perfect is used for an action which
finished in the past and whose result was
visible in the past.
|
When he came home, he was happy
because he had found a good job.
|
Signal words: for, since, already, after, just, never, yet, before, by, by the
time, etc.
|
Active voice | By the time the train reached King’s Cross station, J. K. Rowling had invented most of the characters. |
Passive voice
|
By the time the train reached King’s Cross station, most of the
characters had been invented.
|
Active voice
Subject + had + past participle + object
|
Passive voice
Object+ had+ been +past participle
|
Publishing houses had turned her down 12
times before the book was finally published.
The brave men had liberated the city by
October.
Had you solved the problems by the time they came? |
She had been turned down 12 times before
the book was finally published.
The city had been liberated by the brave men by October. Had the problems been solved by the time they came? |