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When do you use 'had' in a sentence? this is VERY confusing, and is there a website (link) that explains this in depth?

Example- The president announced his resignation yesterday.
The president had announced his resignation yesterday.
What is the difference between these 2 sentences? What is the first one saying and what is
the 2nd one saying?

After he completed the task, he rested.
After he had completed the task, he rested.

I cannot understand this for the life of me.

Please explain & help me. Thanks to all!!!

Avangi · Accepted Answer

The verb "to have" has many uses, but the examples you cite involve only it's use in the past perfect tense.
You can use our search engine or Google to find articles on "past perfect tense."

The president announced his resignation yesterday.

Without the adverb of time "yesterday," this could have happened 200 years ago.
The president announced his resignation.

The president had announced his resignation yesterday.

In order to use "had" in this sentence, there must be a past tense reference in prior context.

People were encouraged by the new turn of events. The president had announced etc.

The past perfect event can have happened before or after the past tense reference:

He had resigned just before/after the meeting was held.

**(My examples are not necessarily factual.)

homerfarmsbyAfter he completed the task, he rested.
After he had completed the task, he rested.

In this case, the past tense reference is in the same sentence. (he rested)

It could be argued that your second example doesn't really need the past perfect, since the adverb of time makes the relation between the two events quite clear.

In the case of the first example, we need the sentence which comes before, in order to make a judgement.

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