1. Had Paco left everything in order?

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Virginia Woolf, the author of the short story Paco read, used those tenses to refer to actions that had occurred before other actions in the Past Simple tense. Have a look at those sentences again and guess how the Past Perfect tense is formed.

 

 

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Remember that the Past Simple tense of all verbs does not change whatever the person is, except in the verb to be (was/were). That being so, all the persons of the Past Simple tense of the verb to have are had.

Since this is a compound tense (it is neither a Present Simple nor a Past Simple in which we need the verb to do), negative and interrogative sentences are very easy. Have a look at the following chart with examples from the passage.

 

Affirmative
 Negative Interrogative
He had asked her to come.
He had not (hadn't) asked her to come.
 Had he asked her to come?
Angela had left everything in order.
 Angela had not (hadn't) left everything in order.
 Had Angela left everything in order?
Some of their very few tiffs had been about her diary.
 Some of their very few tiffs had not (hadn't) been about her diary.
 Had some of their very few tiffs been about her diary?
Icono IDevice Further knowledge

Do you remember the smurfs? On one occasion, they got really angry with Baker smurf. Do you want to know why? Watch the video on the left to know it! Then watch the video on the right to learn more about the Past Perfect!

 




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Write sentences in the Past Perfect tense. Pay attention to negative and interrogative sentences!

1. Paco / the diamond mines / never / visit / before.

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2. Angela / give / as a present / her husband / What?

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3. When Angela / she / leave / her values / died / to her best friends.

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4. Sissy / him / phone / before / arrived / at his house / she?

?

5. Paco thought / he / leave / in order / not / everything.

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By George Charles Beresfor. Public domain

Virginia Woolf

The author of the so well-known To the Lighthouse and of the short story Paco read at the hotel, Virginia Woolf, was born on January 25, 1882, in London. She was an English novelist, essayist, publisher, feminist, and one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the 20th century. Unfortunately, Virginia committed suicide on March 28, 1941. In a note she left to her husband she wrote:

I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I can't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier 'til this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that — everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer. I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been.


As you have seen, the Past Simple tense is very easy! Let's have a look at its main uses. But this will be in next section!
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