Past Perfect: contrasting earlier from later events

Past Perfect

Contrasting earlier from later events

Past Tense vs. Past Perfect

PAST TENSE		PAST PERFECT TENSE
Use the past tense to focus on an event or a series of events. No particular importance is placed on timing. The events are reported in the sequence (order) that they happened.		Use the past perfect to contrast the timing of two events: earlier and later past. The speaker places emphasis on the timing of the first event because of the effect it has on the second event. The difference in time often indicates "good timing" a fortunate sequence or "bad timing" an unfortunate sequence.
FIRST EVENT First, I stopped at an ATM.	SECOND EVENT Then I took my friends out to lunch.	EARLIER EVENT I had stopped at an ATM	LATER EVENT before I took my friends out to lunch. (good timing = I was able to pay for lunch.)
First, I took my friends out to lunch.	Then I stopped at an ATM.	I had taken my friends out to lunch	before I stopped at an ATM. (bad timing = I was unable to pay for lunch!)
First, we sat down.	Then the waiter tripped and dropped his tray on our table.	We had just sat down	when the waiter tripped and dropped his tray on our table. (bad timing = Dishes fell on us.)
First, we stood up to leave.	Then the waiter tripped and dropped his tray on our table.	We had just stood up to leave	when the waiter tripped and dropped his tray on our table. (good timing = Dishes fell on an empty table.)

Placement of "before" or "after"

LATER EVENT		EARLIER EVENT
Before is optionally used with a past perfect sentence to emphasize which action happened first.		After is optionally used with a past perfect sentence to emphasize which action happened second. After introduces the earlier event.
	I took my friends out to lunch (independent clause)	after	I had stopped at an ATM (dependent clause)
Before	I took my friends out to lunch, (dependent clause)		I had stopped at an ATM (independent clause)

EARLIER EVENT		LATER EVENT
After introduces the earlier event After joins a dependent clause to an independent clause.		Before, when or by the time introduces the later event. Each conjunction joins a dependent clause to an independent clause.
After	I had stopped at an ATM,		I took my friends out to lunch.
	I had stopped at an ATM	before	I took my friends out to lunch.
	I had just stopped at an ATM	when	my friends walked up to me.
	I had already stopped at an ATM	by the time	my friends walked up to me.

Adverbs for Past vs. Past Perfect

PAST TENSE ADVERBS	PAST PERFECT ADVERBS
These adverbs indicate hours that have passed in the mind of the speaker.	These adverbs contrast time events in two different clauses.
this morning... (hours passed) this week (days have passed) this year.. this decade. last night yesterday last week last year January 10, 1999 in August 1960 1992 May 5th, at 5:00 a.m. (if it has already passed)	already by the time ever never before after when (different meaning from "when" - same time)

Common Mistake — when

When has two meanings: 1) same time, 2) interruption

ERROR	FIX
*My grandfather had lived in a small village in Italy when he was a child. The adverb when indicates same time; however, the verb indicates an earlier time.	My grandfather lived in a small village in Italy when he was a child. (Use past tense because no time contrast is intended; when= same time) My grandfather had been living in a small village in Italy when the war started. (Use past perfect to contrast earlier and later past; when= interruption of new activity)
The bank robber had took the gun, threw it in the bushes and drove away.	The bank robber took the gun, threw it in the bushes and drove away. (Use simple past tense for a series of past actions, and when there is no need to emphasize one action happening earlier than the other.)

ERROR

FIX

*My grandfather had lived in a small village in Italy when he was a child.

The adverb when indicates same time; however, the verb indicates an earlier time.

My grandfather lived in a small village in Italy when he was a child.
(Use past tense because no time contrast is intended; when= same time)

My grandfather had been living in a small village in Italy when the war started.
(Use past perfect to contrast earlier and later past; when= interruption of new activity)

The bank robber had took the gun, threw it in the bushes and drove away.

The bank robber took the gun, threw it in the bushes and drove away.
(Use simple past tense for a series of past actions, and when there is no need to emphasize one action happening earlier than the other.)

Past Perfect Progressive

Background Events

SETTING THE SCENE IN THE BACKGROUND	SETTING THE SCENE EARLIER
Use the past progressive to tell what was going on in the background as the next event occurs. Use past progressive when the focus is on the activities and not on the difference in time.	Use the past perfect progressive to tell what was going on in the background prior to (before) the next event occured. Use past perfect progressive to contrast the time frames: earlier-past from past.
We were sitting there having lunch, and then the waiter dropped his tray on the table.	We had been sitting there having lunch before the waiter dropped his tray on the table.
He was talking on his phone. His cell phone rang.	He had been talking on his phone when he crashed into the back of a bus.
She was drinking an icy fruit drink, and then her head started to ache.	She had been drinking an icy fruit drink when her head started to ache.
She went back to the dentist because her tooth was hurting her.	She went back to the dentist because her tooth had been hurting her.

Grammar Notes

Traditional & Current

PAST GRAMMAR	CURRENT GRAMMAR
In traditional grammar, while, when, before, after, and since may be used to introduce a "time-related" clause. These words belong to the conjunction category. The "time-related clause" is called an adverbial clause: it tells When?	In current linguistic analysis – while, when, before, after, and since — belong to the category preposition, which can take a clause as a complement. (In traditional grammar, a preposition is followed by an object.)
Azar & Hagen call these adverbial clauses or "time clauses" with no mention of a term for the connector. (UUEG 4-3, Adverb clauses 17-2; Reduction 18-1)	Huddleston & Pullum (2009) have re-assigned a large number of items previously analyzed as adverbs after, as, as soon as, before, once, since while, and when to the class of prepositions. The preposition is the head of the prepositional phrase (PP) which can be complemented by a noun phrase or a clause. (CaGEL 612-7)
Quirk & Greenbaum (1989) place while, when, before, after, and since in the class of conjunction. They function as subordinators of adjunct clauses that express time-relationship. (CoGEL 8.53)	Swan (2009) refers to while, when, before, after, and since as conjunctions. (Swan 30.1)

Resources / Works cited

Practice

A Late Night Fever

Tense Agreement with Adverbs

Select the answers that best complete the sentence.
Compare your response to the answer on the right.

#	SELECT RESPONSE	CHECK ANSWER
1.	We go to the pharmacy late last night when my child sick. (when = at the time that)
2.	The pharmacist for home by the time we there.
3.	By the time we home, the baby's fever down.
4.	The next time the baby a fever, we better prepared.fever. fever (n.) – an illness or a medical condition in which you have a very high temperature
5.	Before we our baby, we a baby-care course at the hospital.
6.	After our baby born, we realized how easy our life before.
7.	Last night, I was thankful that the baby fell asleep early. I asleep when he crying. (when = interruption)
8.	I his diaper and him a bottle, then he asleep peacefully.

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