Verb tense – Past simple or past perfect? (With Vietnamese footnotes)
Monday, October 17, 2011, 08:40 GMT+7
Dr. Grammar says:
“What’s wrong with this sentence? He didn’t want to go to the cinema because he saw the movie.”
EXPLANATION:
In the previous lesson, we looked at Past simple and Past continuous. For now, we will look at past simple and past perfect.
How do we make them?
Past simple
(See the last lesson, “Past simple and Past continuous”.)
Past perfect Positive
Subject + had + V3 + (object, adjunct etc)
e.g. They had eaten lunch.
She had eaten lunch.
We had stopped to eat lunch.
Negative
Subject + had not + V3 + (object, adjunct etc)
e.g. They had not eaten lunch.
She had not eaten lunch.
We had not stopped to eat lunch.
Question
Had + subject + V3 + (object, adjunct etc)
e.g. Had they eaten lunch?
Had she eaten lunch?
Had we stopped to eat lunch?
When do we use the past simple?
We use the past simple to:
• tell the main events in a narrative, in time order.
• describe something in past time
• talk about an event in completed past time (For more detail, see last week’s lesson, “Past Simple and Past Continuous”.)
When do we use the past perfect?
The past perfect is used to describe an action before another action in the past. This means that the past perfect is usually in the same sentence as the past simple or in a connected sentence. For example:
I went to the supermarket again because the first time I had forgotten to buy milk.
= “Had forgotten” happened before “went”
A = had forgotten B = went
They met (B) for a second date because they had had (A) a great time on their first.
= Of course the first date was before the second date, so it is written in the past perfect.
We do not need the past perfect when we write the actions in the order that they happen (see past simple above). Let’s look at the same examples again:
I went to the supermarket, but forgot to buy some milk, so I went back again.
= The past simple is used here as the actions happen in order.
They had a great time on their first date, so they went on another one. = Again, the actions are in time order, so the past simple is used.Can we use these tenses in the same sentence/text?
As mentioned above, usually we use the past perfect in the same sentence as the past simple.
(In future lessons we will look at more uses of the past perfect, but not now!)
How can we learn to use these tenses?
By doing the exercises below!
So…
He didn’t want to go to the cinema because he saw the movie. X
= Confusing. When did he see the movie?
He didn’t want to go to the cinema because he had seen the movie. √
= Ah! He saw the movie before, so he didn’t want to go and see it again.
EXERCISE:
Some of the following sentences are correct and some are incorrect.
Look at the following sentences and decide if the tense is ok. If there are mistakes, try to correct them:
1. Ben walked to the shop because the day before his bike had been stolen. 2. Last year when I went on holiday, I had swum at the beach and had eaten a lot of seafood.
3. They had stopped at a restaurant as they had driven for a long time, then they had eaten a huge meal.
4. When I was in Singapore, I went to the zoo, but the time before it had been much better as the animals had all been awake.
5. Some people had come to my house to see my motorbike, but I sold it.
Answers:
1. Ben walked to the shop because the day before his bike had been stolen.
= Correct! Walked is B, had been stolen is A. 2. Last year when I went on holiday, I had swum at the beach and had eaten a lot of seafood.
= Wrong. These actions are simply events in completed past time, so the past simple is used:
Last year when I went on holiday, I swam at the beach and ate a lot of seafood.
= Correct!
3. They had stopped at a restaurant as they had driven for a long time, then they had eaten a huge meal.
= Wrong. What happened first? Driving. (Driving is A, stopping and eating are B)
So…
They stopped at a restaurant as they had driven for a long time, then they ate a huge meal.
= Correct! They stopped, before that they had driven, after they stopped they ate.
4. When I was in Singapore I went to the zoo, but the time before it had been much better as the animals had all been awake.
= Correct! I went to the zoo (B), but the time before (A) it had been better.
5. Some people had come to my house to see my motorbike, but I sold it. = Wrong. Which happened first?
Some people came to my house to see my motorbike, but I had sold it. = Correct! Came (B) but the bike had been sold already (A).
FURTHER PRACTICE: Find some stories written in the past (short stories, newspaper stories, anything written in the past!) and look for sentences which have both the past simple and past perfect.
Does the sentence follow the rules we have studied today?
Which action is first, can you draw a timeline like we have used (A + B) to show when the actions happened?
When you are confident that you understand the two tenses, write your own story about anything from your past. Show it to a friend and have them correct it for you.
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SUMMARY IN VIETNAMESE Try to read and understand the lesson in English first. Just use the Vietnamese summary to check your understanding if you are unsure. THÌ QUÁ KHỨ ĐƠN – THÌ QUÁ KHỨ HOÀN THÀNH I. Cách thành lập: như trên II. Cách sử dụng: (ví dụ xem trên) a. Thì Quá khứ đơn được sử dụng i. để mô tả các sự kiện chính theo trình tự thời gian trong câu chuyện hay khi tường thuật ii. để mô tả sự việc trong quá khứ iii. để nói về một sự kiện diễn ra với thời gian quá khứ hoàn tất b. Thì Quá khứ hoàn thành được sử dụng để diễn tả một hành động xảy ra TRƯỚC một hành động khác trong quá khứ. Vì thế, thì Quá khứ hoàn thành thường được sử dụng trong cùng một câu với thì Quá khứ đơn hay trong câu liên kết III. Lưu ý: Ta KHÔNG cần dùng thì Quá khứ hoàn thành khi mô tả các hành động theo trình tự chúng diễn ra. |
This material is provided by the Australian Centre for Education and Training (ACET).
