Enlish III. "Past Perfect and Past Continuous"

"UNIVERSIDAD ALFONSO REYES"

Alejandra Lucero Montoya Garza.      3º.Tetra

Materia: English III

Matricula: F-2967

Profesor: Hector Tellez

"Past Perfect and Past Continuous"

Past Perfect

The past perfect is formed by combining the auxiliary verb "had" with the past participle.

I had studied.

 He had written a letter to María.

 We had been stranded for six days.

Because the past perfect is a compound tense, two verbs are required: the main verb and the auxiliary verb.

I had studied.

 (main verb: studied ; auxiliary verb: had)

He had written a letter to María.

 (main verb: written ; auxiliary verb: had)

We had been stranded for six days.

 (main verb: been ; auxiliary verb: had)

When used as an adjective, the past participle changes to agree with the noun it modifies. However, when used in the perfect tenses, the past participle never changes.

Past participle used as an adjective:

 The door is closed.

Past participle used in the past perfect tense:

 I had closed the door.

Here are a couple of more examples:

Past participle used as an adjective:

 The doors are open.

Juan had opened the doors.

The past perfect tense is used when a past action was completed prior to another past action. Expressions such as "ya", "antes", "nunca", "todavía" and "después" will often appear in sentences where one action was completed before another.

When the parents arrived, the children had already eaten.

I had eaten prior to calling them.

This idea of a past action being completed before another past action need not always be stated; it can be implied.

Juan had closed the window before leaving.

Juan had closed the window.

The auxiliary verb and the past participle are never separated. To make the sentence negative, add the word "no" before the conjugated form of haber.

I had not lived.

You had not lived.

He had not lived.

We had not lived.

You-all had not lived.

They had not lived.

Again, the auxiliary verb and the past participle are never separated. Object pronouns are placed immediately before the auxiliary verb.

Pablo had given a lot of money to his sister.

To make this sentence negative, the word "no" is placed before the indirect object pronoun (le).

Pablo had not given a lot of money to his sister.

With reflexive verbs, the reflexive pronoun is placed immediatedly before the auxiliary verb. Compare how the present perfect differs from the simple present, when a reflexive verb is used.

I wash my hands.

I had washed my hands.

To make this sentence negative, the word "no" is placed before the reflexive pronoun (me).

I had not washed my hands.

Questions are formed as follows. Note how the word order is different than the English equivalent.

Had the girls arrived yet?

Had you tried the dessert yet?

Here are the same questions in negative form. Notice how the auxiliary verb and the past participle are not separated.

Hadn't the girls arrived yet?

Hadn't you tried the dessert yet?

Past Continuous / Past Progressive

Structure

Positive form

Subject + was/were + (-ing) + Complement

Examples:

-          Michael was watching the World Cup  match.
-          They were working all night long.
-          Josh and Silvia were talking about getting married.

Negative form

Subject + wasn’t/weren’t + (-ing) + Complement

Examples:

-          John wasn’t eating because he was feeling sick.
-          Jeff wasn’t watching TV.
-          My parents weren’t having a good time because it was very cold in Canada

- Past continuous is very similar IN STRUCTURE to the Present Continuous tense. The only difference is that in the present continuous we use the verb to be in the present (am/is/are) but with the past continuous we use the verb to be in the past (was/were)

USE

We use the past continuous to talk about an action that was in progress at a certain time in the past, an action at some point in the past between its beginning and end

The past continuous is used to describe an action that we were “in the middle of” at a time in the past.
-          I was watching TV at 8:00pm. (I was “in the middle of watching TV” at 8:00)
-          Miguel was cooking at noon. (At that time, Miguel was “in the middle of cooking”)

It is important to remember this concept so that in our next lesson we can compare and contrast the past continuous with the past simple.

cars.edu.mx

Universidad-Monterrey

Universidad-Mexico

Escuelas-Monterrey