You know from Grammar 8-1 that we use the Past Simple to talk about completed actions in the definite past. The time of the action can be recent or long ago.
In the following example, the Past Simple is used to give a chronological (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) order of events to a story:
John finished work and got into his car to head home. After he left the parking lot in his brand-new Honda, John turned onto Main Street. Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and John started arguing with his wife. He became distracted and didn't notice a stop sign. Another car crashed into the side of John's car and pushed it onto the side of the street. John was in pain, but he managed to exit his damaged Honda.
Until this point in the story, everything has been told in order. If we want to write or talk about something that happened before John managed to exit his damaged Honda (the last sentence), we use the Past Perfect.
Form
- Past Perfect Simple = had + past participle
For further details on how to form the Past Perfect Simple, please refer to Smrt 120 - Grammar 3-2.
The other car had turned on its side and hit a tree. (this happened before John managed to exit his damaged Honda)
Now, let's continue the story. Any time the Past Perfect is used, it is describing a finished event that happened before another past event.
Other drivers slowly started to stop and check if John was alright. He could barely move his leg as it had been crushed during the accident. The other driver's eyes were open, but she hadn't gotten out of her car yet. John knew the accident was his fault because he had been distracted by the phone call.
Let’s look at the whole story.
John finished work and got into his car to head home. After he left the parking lot in his brand-new Honda, John turned onto Main Street. Suddenly, his cell phone rang, and John started arguing with his wife. He became distracted and didn't notice a stop sign. Another car crashed into the side of John's car and pushed it onto the side of the street. John was in pain, but he managed to exit his damaged Honda. The other car had turned on its side and hit a tree. Other drivers slowly started to stop and check if John was alright. He could barely move his leg as it had been crushed during the accident. The other driver's eyes were open, but she hadn't gotten out of her car yet. John knew the accident was his fault because he had been distracted by the phone call.
As stated above, we use the Past Perfect to show that something happened before another past event. Compare the following examples:
- She noticed something was wrong with her email when I got home. (She noticed something was wrong with email after I got home.)
- She had noticed something was wrong with her email when I got home. (She noticed something was wrong with her email before I got home.)
The Past Perfect isn't necessary if the order of events is clear through the context of the conversation or text. One way to make the order clear is to use conjunctions like before or after. However, in academic writing, it is still necessary to use Past Perfect.
- Before I woke up, it rained / it had rained.
- After it rained / it had rained, I woke up.
It’s important to note that the Past Perfect is more common with the conjunction when because without the Past Perfect, the order of events could be confusing.
- When I woke up, I saw that it had rained.
- I thought the fire had started because of an electrical issue when I first saw the damage.
- When I got home, I noticed she had called six times.