PAST PERFECT TENSE

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iceprincess1981
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PAST PERFECT TENSE

Post by iceprincess1981 »

Hi everyone!

I would like to know when is the right time to use the PAST TENSE and THE PAST PERFECT TENSE.

This is what I have learned ok.
Past perfect tense:a past action in the past

She watered the plant after she had cleaned the kitchen.

But why does a whole paragraph sometimes use past perfect tense?

Can someone please explaine me WHEN AND HOW TO USE PAST PERFECT TENSE IN A SENTENCE AND PARAGRAPH.

PLEASE.... :( :? very confused about it.
ProfessorVerb
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Post by ProfessorVerb »

Alas, nothing in English is "perfect."

Entire paragraphs sometimes assume a past perfect tense, but the only real requirement is that the individual sentences which comprise the paragraph are consistent as to tense.

Most writers prefer to use the same tense throughout to keep things "parallel" (this is the term that is used).

According to George O. Curme (1931), "In oldest English, the predicate was always a noun or an adjective. If a participle was used, it was an adjective in force. Today the participle has tense like a finite verb, as in the last two examples, where it is in the perfect tense. This development began with the present participle which had both adjective and verbal force. The strong verbal force in the present participle led later to the use of the perfect participle with the full force of a verb in the present perfect or the past perfect tense" (p. 276).

Unfortunately, though, I haven't a clue as to what this means... This may help though:

"The past perfect tense expresses an action that began and ended in the past before something else occurred. For example, the following sentence correctly uses the past perfect tense: 'By the end of my shopping spree, I had purchased seven new shirts'"

"past perfect: a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past; 'I had finished' is an example of the past perfect'"

You sure ask some hard questions in here :)

--
References

Book Title: Syntax. Volume: 3. Contributors: George O. Curme - author. Publisher: D. C. Heath and Company. Place of Publication: Boston. Publication Year: 1931. Page Number: 276.

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn
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RedRose

Post by RedRose »

I checked an english book in which "past perfect tense" is explained in many ways, one of which is :"actions are completed before past tense". in a nutshell, we should use past perfect tense when we express actions that happen before past tense.

that makes sense? professor?
ProfessorVerb
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Post by ProfessorVerb »

It is surprising just how much you take for granted when a language is your mother tongue and just how much is involved in learning another language.

Past perfect tense makes sense to me now (as it did years ago in school, but I also used to know what a "gerund" was and how to diagram a sentence). "Use it or lose it," they say.
iceprincess1981
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Post by iceprincess1981 »

:oops:

and what about this:

She also felt humiliated. In her heart,she knew it was probably her own fault that she lost. She had been co concerned about being popular and picking out the right outfit that she had barely give a thought to the real issues of the election.

--PENPALS
Shanon Dennis Wyeth


keep your posts coming!

Thanks! :oops:
shokin
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Post by shokin »

Good use, it seems.

she had giveN

She is victim of the false culpabilty.

Shokin
Nous sommes libres. Wir sind frei. We are free. Somos libres. Siamo liberi.
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