Past perfect


The past perfect places an event firmly in the past, often contrasting it with another event which happened later.
 
Use ‘had’ plus a past participle to create the past perfect.


I went to my customer’s office but he had gone to lunch. (My customer went to lunch before I arrived).
 
I had studied business for three years before I decided what I wanted to do in my career. (First I studied business, then I decided what I wanted to do)
 

Task: read the sentence and answer the questions.
 
I had intended to stop at the supermarket on the way home, but I forgot.
 
Did he/she stop at the supermarket?
When did they intend to do it?
How is the past perfect being used in this sentence?

‘I wish I had thought of that.’
 
Is there anything you wish you had done in your career, but haven’t?
Or perhaps something you wish you hadn’t done?

Read this text to see the past perfect being used in context:


New energy

Energy supply is changing. The way we buy it is changing and the way we generate it is changing.

The shale revolution in the US and similar developments have had the effect of forcing the price of oil down and have helped make natural gas plants the no. 1 source of new energy in the US in 2014.

On a smaller scale solar energy has also developed impressively.

In the US new photovoltaic and concentrated solar installations were the second-largest source of new energy in 2013. In     Europe government incentive schemes have seen more and more solar panels on domestic roof tops. Solar City has lead the way in the US residential market, thanks to its leasing model and its overall financing strategy which have helped make solar installations appear cost-effective to ordinary people.

Interviewed at the World Energy Innovation Forum, the CEO of General Electric, Geoff Immelt, conceded, ‘I wish I had thought of that’.


Task: answer the questions, review the text to find the answers.                                                                                                            

What is happening in the American energy market? Is the solar-energy market booming? Why do you say so?                    
Who is Geoff Immelt? How does he feel about the solar-energy market?                                                                                                                                                               Who is moving the solar-energy market forward?


Immelt said, ‘I wish I had thought of that.’

 

Is there anything you wish you had done in your career, but haven’t?

Or perhaps something you wish you hadn’t done?


Can you see how the past perfect is used here to discuss past opportunities? To express regrert?

 


 

 

 

 

 


 

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