Past Perfect Active

Meanings

Situations and states before the past / completed actions before a moment in the past or where the important thing was the result at a moment in the past / a series of actions continuing up to a moment in the past.

Tense Expressions

• after
• already
• already
• as soon as
• barely
• before
• before last week
• by
• by 2 o'clock yesterday
• by the time
• by then
• for
• hardly
• just
• never
• no sooner
• scarcely
• since
• the moment that
• till / until
• until before
• when (in the meaning "before, after")
• yet, etc.

Examples

1. I recognized that I had been impressed unconsciously by the desolation of the region through which I had passed.
2. It struck me that it was considerably colder than it had been at the commencement of my walk.
3. As the snow had ceased to fall, I walked out from the shelter and began to investigate more closely.
4. He accosted me with excessive warmth, for he had drunk much.
5. Hartley told himself that his taste in choosing had been flawless.
6. He had just had dinner when his girlfriend called.
7. He just arrived from the China where he had spent a few months and practiced speaking the Chinese language.
8. He had hardly read three pages when he fell asleep.
9. He had fallen asleep when he was disturbed.
10. She adored those lonely walks which had become her only entertainment.
11. At last she was all alone. The guests had left.
12. She told me she had won the first place and received a trophy.
13. I didn’t say anything until she had finished apologizing.
14. After she had moved out, I found her diary.
15. Before I tried to appease her anxiety, she had run out the door.