Actually, simple past and perfect past tense have a natural connection with each other to generate total sense of described actions in sequence.
To express past actions, activities, state or condition, simple past tense is used in the written or spoken form of expression. Due to it’s general nature, it is also called general past tense
Past perfect tense describes the complete action happened in the past for a certain period of time. Generally, it is also called the “past of the past.”
Hereon, I’m going to differentiate between simple past and perfect past tense.
Formation and examples of simple past tense
Simple past tense is often called general past tense as it doesn’t emphasis on specific or definite past activities or events.
In the simple past, references of time make it different from other forms of past.
- In her twenties, she ran ten miles in an hour.
- Once, he was our promised student.
- Did you see that worst flood?
Whether it is recent or distant past from the current utterance, simple past is preferred either to describe past actions, activities, or state, conditions of something.
- In last competition, she ran ten miles in a hour.
- When he was in tenth, he was our promised students.
Either to form past interrogative or negative, “Did” auxiliary is used.
- Legally, she didn’t break traffic rules.
- Normally, he didn’t prefer junk food.
- Did he prefer junk food?
However, helping verbs do not have any roles to play in the formation of simple past tense.
Use of “to be, to have” in simple past
- Laura was quite shy when she was a child.
- You were so busy when I met you last week.
- Mostly in Asia, large number of workers migrated due to covid infections.
- Due to knockdown, millions lost job in India last year.
- Unfortunately, I had a worst period when I lost my job.
- They had hardly anything to survive during pandemic. Nor did government offer some relief.
In reality, “To do, to have, and to be” act as main verb to convey meaning of expressions.
1.Examples of past activities or actions or activities
- Andrew played great innings in domestic tournaments.
- And, he scored many centuries for nation.
- Recently, he wrote a fantastic book on his journey.
2.State or conditions expressed by simple past tense
- It was hot and sultry day when we entered in forest.
- Once, she was so upset over her results.
- Dusty dry winds were predominant in the tropical deserts
- In summer, water scarcity was too common in most of the Asian countries.
3.Habitual actions by simple past
1.It was my daily routine to go for swimming at six o’clock.
2.People used to go for a walk every morning.
3.She used to practice for singing every day.
4.Children always went to play in the garden after school.
To express hypothetical situation, simple past is preferred
- If I were you, I would forgive.
Simple past with present tense
- These workers used to be so diligent; but, now, opposite is true.
Explanation of Past perfect tense
Past perfect tense describes the complete action happened in the past for a certain period of time. Generally, it is also called the “past of the past.”
Besides, past perfect has a natural connection with simple past to generate total sense of described actions in sequence.
Using past perfect tense
Without simple past tense, the complete sense of meaning of perfect past is unimaginable.
Hence, past perfect tense is always used in conjunction with the simple past in any sequence.
- John had selected for world cup team by the time he was just sixteen.
- He had started his preparation for Olympics by the time he was in the fifth standard.
- The bridge had already collapsed when the rescue team arrived.
- Tom accepted his mistake before he had been fined.
- Luckily, he escaped safely before the bridge had collapsed.
- She couldn’t reach on time because she had already missed the last bus.
- We were really exhausted so I had requested for some relief.
In all these examples, simple past is used to construct better sense of meaning along with past perfect.
Main role and functions of past perfect tense
Now, let’s see some important functions of this tense.
1.Use to describe past of the past actions
As I stated earlier that past perfect tense is widely called past of the past. Here, are some examples.
- When he woke up, his father had already left for office.
In this sentence, there are two actions expressed in a sequence manner. “By the time he woke up” is happened after “his father had already left.”
It means, simple past used with “when” conjunction describes the action happened after earlier action. Both actions could be written interchangeably with “when” conjunction or “by the time of” phrase.
- His father had already left for office when he woke up.
This is the reason why we used to describe the perfect past tense as the “past of the past.”
2.Use with when and before
Both are “subordinating conjunctions” of time. “When” is used to describe transition of time or general junction of two actions.
Whereas, “before” is used to describe two actions in sequence, especially later.
Both conjunctions are used with past perfect tense to connect with simple past.
- Luckily, he escaped safely before the bridge had collapsed.
- When he reached there, the bridge had already been collapsed.
“Before conjunction of time’ is preferred to introduce perfect past. Whereas, “When” is commonly used to introduce simple past tense”.
3.Use for explanation and conclusion
This tense is used to derive conclusions and give explanations.
- She couldn’t reach on time because she had already missed the last bus.
In this sentence, conjunction “because” is used to explain the cause of inability.
- We were really exhausted so I had requested for some relief.
Here, “so” conjunction is placed to conclude result.
Like simple past, perfect present, and continuous tense, past perfect isn’t used with time expressions or time expressions are not so important.
Understanding Past perfect continuous tense
Past perfect continuous tense is used to express incompleted actions and activities that began in somewhere in past and still continue upto a specific period or point of time in the past
Formation and functions of past perfect continuous tense
Previously, I have already explained the use and formation of present perfect continuous. In terms of formation, except “had”, processes of both perfect continuous past and present are same.
- Since morning, she has been drawing a picture. (still drawing and not yet completed)
- He had been practicing consistently for five years when he selected for national team.
In the second example, the action was continue before second began.
It means that the period of action remains continue until other begins thereafter.
Though perfect continuous past and present look alike, the contextual meaning of both quiet different.
- Lisa has been cooking for two hours.
- She had been cooking a recepy when we arrived for dinner.
In the second example, the action seemail to stopped by second one. But, in first, remains continue.
Perfect continuous present never used to express complete action but it begins somewhere in the past.
On the other hand, perfect continuous past is used to indicate uncompleted action or activity until a certain time before now.
In formation of past perfect continuous tense, conjunctions of time such as till, until, when, etc. are used to show time reference of occurred actions.
Examples of perfect continuous past tense
For easy understanding, following examples are very useful…
- She had been preparing to leave when we met her.
- He had been booking a flight ticket when I stopped him.
- I had been sleeping until he called me.
Key takeaways of past tense
Finally, let’s see the important points of this article. It is just summary for overlook.
- Past tense has four sub-types like simple past, continuous past, perfect past and continuous perfect past tense. These are used to describe actions, habits, activities, state, of being accordingly.
- Conjugated forms of verbs are taken to form different aspects of past.
- For simple past, “did” rules the matter. But, helping verbs remains abscent.
- In the continuous past, “was/were of to be” become necessary.
- Whereas, in the formation of perfect past, had and past participle plays key role.
- No aspect of past tense share the action or activity with now.
- As usual, past simple corresponds with simple present except the role of “did”.
- Perfect past is something different from present perfect. In perfect past, two actions are used in sequence to show events in comparison.
- Definite or definite time references are important in simple past more than others.
- Usages of conjunctions of time is common to past tense.
- Past perfect tense is often called past of the past.
- At last, perfect continuous past use time conjunctions such as when, until, before to indicate two different actions happening simultaneously.
So far, we have learnt about the use and examples of simple past and perfect past tense. In this article, I have explained meaning, formation process, and gave useful examples of simple past and perfect past tense.
“But and Yet” Contrasting conjunctions
Subordinating conjunctions of time
Simple continuous and perfect past
Persent perfect and continuous perfect
Simple and continuous future tense