Past Tenses 2 – Past Perfect Simple

Grammar for IELTS 4. Past Tenses 2 Past Tenses 2 – Past Perfect Simple

Textual Material

Form:
- Affirmative Form: had + past participle
- Negative Form: had not + past participle
- Question Form: had + … + past participle?

Usage:
- To discuss a past event that occurred before another past event.
  - Example: They had listened to his music before the concert.
- To describe something that happened before a specific past point.
  - Example: His father was a composer and his grandfather had also been a musician.
  - Using Past Perfect Simple with Time Adverbs: just or already.
  - Example: By the time he was 17, Mozart’s reputation had already begun to spread throughout Europe.
- To express events mentioned in chronological order.
  - Example: His grandfather was a musician and his father was also a composer.
  - Using Past Perfect Simple with Time Expressions:
  - Employ words like when, as soon as, by the time, after to denote event order.
    - Example: When Mozart was born, five of his siblings had already died.
- To discuss a time before a specific past point.
  - Use adverbs like always, sometimes, never, before, by + fixed time.
    - Example: His family was richer than they had ever been before.
- To report Past Events using reporting verbs.
  - Example: The man told me he had met my father a long time before.