Secret skill to use simple past and past perfect tense correctly

Shree Ganeshay Namah

How to use simple past tense and past perfect tense correctly

Introduction

We are familiar with all the 12 active voice and passive voice tenses. The trickiest part of using the tenses correctly is to know the correct use of simple past tense and past perfect tense rightly.

Simple past tense is used to tell what happened and what did you do. On the other hand, the past perfect tense is used to stress the past action.

The most important skill in the use of simple past and past perfect tense is in the combined use in one complex sentence.

The rule for using simple past tense and past perfect tense in a sentence-

The rule—- When two incidents took place in the past and there was a time difference between them then the first incident is given in past perfect tense and the second incident is given in simple past tense.

We will see this rule with detailed examples.

Example- 1) When I reached the station, the train had departed already.

Here two incidents have taken place.

1. I reached the station.
2. The train had departed already.

Now try to judge which incident in the past took first.

Yes, it is “The train had departed already. So it is given in past perfect tense.

Which is the second incident that took place in the past?

Yes, it is “I reached the station”. So it is given in simple past tense.

Example2) When the doctor reached the hospital, the patient had recovered already.

Here the first incident is “ The patient had recovered already” so it is in the past perfect tense.

The second incident is “the doctor reached the hospital.” So it is given in simple past tense.

Example 3) When the fire brigade entered the scene, the fire had already spread.

Here first incident- The fire had already spread.

Second incident-When the fire brigade entered the scene.

Conclusion

In this way, we have the rule to use simple past tense and past perfect tense correctly.

When two incidents took place in the past, the first incident is given in past perfect tense and the second incident is given in simple past tense.

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