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Tiam Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Past perfect

does (at) mean (befrore) or(by) at this sentence? : at 8:00, he had left the house.
  

Top answer

In that sentence it means exactly at 8 o'clock he left the house. Is there any part of the sentence before the word at ? Let's say the sentence were: At 8:00 o'clock yesterday he had left the house to go shopping.

— Canderson

  • In that sentence it means exactly at 8 o'clock he left the house.
  • Is there any part of the sentence before the word at ?
  • Let's say the sentence were: At 8:00 o'clock yesterday he had left the house to go shopping.
  • This would mean that yesterday he left the house at 8 to go shopping.
  • If the sentence was: Gary called me to pick him up at 7 o'clock, and when I went to his house at 8 o'clock he had already left.
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4 Answers
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In that sentence it means exactly at 8 o'clock he left the house. Is there any part of the sentence before the word at?

Let's say the sentence were:

At 8:00 o'clock yesterday he had left the house to go shopping.

This would mean that yesterday he left the house at 8 to go shopping.

If the sentence was:
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"At" in this case means "by." However, it is a slightly awkward construction. The sentence is in past perfect tense. At 8 o'clock, his leaving was already in the past. That's the same thing as saying "By 8 o'clock he had left." All we know about when this person left is that he left before 8.
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I'd say before, because "he had to left the house" is past.
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At 8, he had (already) left the house. (=he left the house before 8)

There was an awkward example by some grammarian who wrote

He had eaten the cake yesterday. (this means that he ate the cake before yesterday and the past perfect is there to indicate that earlier past; admittedly it's still awkward but it's ok to prove a point)
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