Past Perfect Tense

Question 1

When do you use the past perfect tense?

Answer 1

When you’re talking about some point in the past and want to reference an event that happened even earlier, using the past perfect allows you to convey the sequence of the events.

Question 2

When do you use the past tense?

Answer 2

When talking about something in the past

Question 3

When do you use the present perfect tense?

Answer 3

When you are talking about something that began in the past and continued to the present time
(e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour)

or

something that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g. we have talked before)

Question 4

When do you use the present perfect instead of the past tense?

Answer 4

If you know exactly when it happened, then use the past tense:

We spoke in March 2019.
She sang for us last week.

If you don’t know when it happened in the past, use the present perfect tense:

We have spoken before.
She has sung for us before.

Question 5

Formula for the present perfect tense

Answer 5

have/has + the past participle of the verb

Have: I, you, we, they
Has: He, she, it

Question 6

Formula for the past perfect tense

Answer 6

had + the past participle of the verb

it doesn’t matter if the subject is singular or plural

Question 7

When do use ‘have’ in a present perfect tense?

Answer 7

I have
You have

We have
They have

The arbitrators in the tribunal have
The members of Parliament have
The members of the team have
The students in the class have

Question 8

When do you use ‘has’ in a present perfect tense?

Answer 8

She has
He has
It has

Singular nouns:
The tribunal has
Parliament has
The committee has
The crowd has
The staff has