Past perfect tense
Is it necessary for the past perfect tense to have two actions in the past, one being relative to the other one?
I have been reading Harry Potter series and have come across many instances where the past perfect has been used without two actions of the past.
One of rhe example is : 'Of all the unusual things about Harry, this scar was the most extraordinary of all. It was not, as the Dursleys had pretended for ten years, a souvenir of the car crash that had killed Harry’s parents, because Lily and James Potter had not died in a car crash.'
Please help me with this perplexity.
Top answer
anonymous Is it necessary for the past perfect tense to have two actions in the past, one being relative to the other one? Yes and no. There has to be at least one action, the action that you express in the past perfect tense.
- anonymous Is it necessary for the past perfect tense to have two actions in the past, one being relative to the other one?
- Yes and no.
- There has to be at least one action, the action that you express in the past perfect tense.
- And there has to be an established reference point in the past (before which the past perfect action occurred).
- But this reference point does not have to be expressed explicitly as another action in the same sentence where the past perfect occurs.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
anonymousIs it necessary for the past perfect tense to have two actions in the past, one being relative to the other one?
Yes and no. There has to be at least one action, the action that you express in the past perfect tense. And there has to be an established reference point in the past (before which the past perfect action occurred). But this reference
0
Related Questions