a. Past Perfect Tense
Past perfect tense is the form of a verb that is used to show that an action had already finished when another action happened. So what's the difference between the past perfect and the simple past? 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. It's also clearer and more specific.
Examples:
I had fallen asleep before 8 o'clock. The train had left before I reached the station. By the time the police arrived, the thief had fled.
Past Perfect Tense
Past perfect tense tells about an event that happened in the past and was finished before another action took place. This particular tense is used to describe an action that took place and was interrupted by another action.
To make an affirmative, we use the following formula, Subject + had + past participle + object
To make a negative sentence, we use the following formula, Subject + hand not + past participle + object
In order to ask questions, we use the following formula, Had + subject + past participle + object
b. Fill in the blanks with past perfect tense.
c. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Helping Verb
Form of verb
Had been
1st form of verb with ing
Affirmative Sentences
Rules: Subject + helping verb + 1st form of verb with ing + since for + remaining sentence.
Examples: Jan had been singing a song since morning.
Negative Sentences
Rules: Subject + helping verb + not + 1st form of verb with ing + since for + remaining sentence.
Examples: He had not been shedding tears for ten minutes?
Interrogative sentences
Rules: Helping verb + subject + 1st form of verb with ing + since for + remaining sentence.
Examples: Had Usman been playing marbles since afternoon?
The past perfect continuous (also known as the past perfect progressive) is a verb tense that shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past. Unlike the present perfect continuous, which indicates an action that began in the past and has continued up to the present, the past perfect continuous indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past, and also ended at a defined point in the past.