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Poppyman Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Past Perfect Tense.

Hello.

Could you please tell me when do we use that time clause if we don't talk about prior actions? (NOT "I had been learning English before I moved somewhere") Just a momentary events, for example "I had made a phone call" Why not " I have made a phone call"?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Hi, Let me comment on your examples. If you walk into a room and say to me, 'I have made a phone call' , I can find meaning in this. It sounds like this call is somehow important right now.

— Clive

  • Hi, Let me comment on your examples.
  • If you walk into a room and say to me, 'I have made a phone call' , I can find meaning in this.
  • It sounds like this call is somehow important right now.
  • I would expect you to continue by telling me why it is important.
  • If you walk into a room and say to me, ' I had made a phone call' , I can find no real meaning in this.
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7 Answers
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Hi,

Let me comment on your examples.

If you walk into a room and say to me, 'I have made a phone call', I can find meaning in this. It sounds like this call is somehow important right now. I would expect you to continue by telling me why it is important.

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The fact is that I quite understand the diffrence between them, but everytime I see texts inclusive "had" without any logical ending that should indicate to me why it exactly contains "had+ed" - i get confused and kind of bewildered because I don't understand why it's so. Example: "Wondering if I had done the right thing or not?" No indications.

I always want to find out if I can
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poppymanCould you please tell me when do we use that time clause if we don't talk about prior actions? (NOT "I had been learning English before I moved somewhere")
You can use the past perfect without a before clause (or similar time clause) if the past point of view has already been established by the context which precedes your use of the past
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Hi,

The fact is that I quite understand the diffrence between them, but everytime I see texts inclusive "had" without any logical ending that should indicate to me why it exactly contains "had+ed" - i get confused and kind of bewildered because I don't understand why it's so. Example: "Wondering if I had done the right thing or not?" No indicati
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It's not always the case that the past perfect action precedes the simple past one. That's an example often cited in grammar books: "Before we had walked ten miles he complained of sore feet."
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AnonymousIt's not always the case that the past perfect action precedes the simple past one.
Well, yes, but there's a reason for that. In the "vanilla case" with a before-clause, the main clause has the past perfect (if one of the two does). The implication is that the event in the main clause ran to completion.

He had complained a dozen t
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That's completely distracted me. Your explanation means that we can only use "had" before the "simple past" event.

Could I say: "I'd been invited to a party but soon I refused it " Or "I was invited to a party but soon I refused it"?

And what does it mean"It had been a long time since I stayed up that late at night"?

And if we talk about it all, please, le
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