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| Learning English - The Flatmates | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Past perfect - meaning & use
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The past perfect is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past. In episode 91 of the flatmates, Tim says: "But when you interviewed me the other week you really seemed to think that I had stolen the watches." Tim is talking about 2 events which both happened in the past: the police interview, and the theft of the watches. Because the theft of the watches happened before the police interview, Tim uses the past perfect: 'I had stolen'. It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one happened first. Tim could have said: "But you really seemed to think that I had stolen the watches when you interviewed me the other week." More examples: I didn't have any money because I had lost my purse. Tony knew Istanbul so well because he had been there several times. Had John ever studied Japanese before he moved to Japan? She only understood the book because she had seen the film. We couldn't get a table because we hadn't booked in advance. |
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Adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc. can be used with the past perfect. They are usually placed between 'had' and the past participle. The train had just left when I arrived at the station. She had just left the room when the teacher arrived. She had only met her husband once when she married him. Marco had never needed to speak English until he moved to New York. |
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a counterfeiting ring group of criminals who work together to make and distribute fake products or fake money statement a written account of events or facts, usually made by a witness to a crime, for use by the police in a court of law CCTV closed-circuit television; security cameras to secure a conviction to make sure that somebody is found guilty of a crime, in a court of law posh (adj) elegant, fashionable, wealthy and upper class adamant determined, insistent; will not be persuaded to change an idea or belief |
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