Sometimes when we are talking about something in the past, we need to refer to another thing that happened before then. That's when the past perfect is useful.
The past perfect is made by using:
- subject + "had" + past participle
Look at these two sentences:
- Esmie took the dog out for a walk in the afternoon.
- Tiana was looking forward to walking the dog before dinner.
Both sentences are in the simple past. But we know that the first sentence happened before the second, so we can combine them using the past perfect.
Tiana was looking forward to walking the dog before dinner, but Esmie had already taken the dog out in the afternoon.
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