Two or more verbs in past perfect in the same sentence. How does that work?

Question

Hi guys,I have always been told that we use past perfect when two actions happened in the past, one before the other. I thought that there can be only one occurring of past perfect in a clause, yet I came across the following examples:"She got to work late because she had left her phone at home and had had to go back and get it.""The tourists' faces were very red. They had been sitting in the sun all morning and they hadn't put on any sun cream."Can someone explain it to me? Can we use past perfect more than once in a sentence? What are the rules running it?Thanks in advance!

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Bartek Poland"She got to work late because she had left her phone at home and had had to go back and get it."

This sentence has a compound predicate. Both verbs are the same tense (past perfect) and share the same subject.

http://www.k12reader.com/term/compound-predicate/

Bartek Poland"The tourists' faces were very red. They had been sitting in the sun all morning and they hadn't put on any sun cream."

This sentence is very similar to the first. The second "they" could have been omitted.

CalifJim · Answer

Bartek PolandCan we use past perfect more than once in a sentence?

Yes. But you are right that once you use the past perfect, it's not usually necessary to follow up with more. The past perfect establishes the time frame and after that you can use the simple past instead of the past perfect. That way sentences don't seem so repetitive.

There is no strict rule that prevents you from repeating the past perfect if that sounds better to you.

I would change the second past perfect to the simple past in the first example, but not in the second.

There are so many factors that can enter into the decision about whether a sentence "sounds good" that it's impossible to give any coherent explanation of it. In the first sentence the subject is not repeated in the second clause. In the second sentence it is. In the first sentence the second clause is affirmative, but in the second sentence it's negative. Any of these factors, and others, can influence the choice.

CJ

"She got to work late because she had left her phone at home and had to go back and get it."
"The tourists' faces were very red. They had been sitting in the sun all morning and they hadn't put on any sun cream."

Two or more verbs in past perfect in the same sentence. How does that work?

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