Look at these examples to see how the past perfect is used.
He couldn't make a sandwich because he'd forgotten to buy bread.
The hotel was full, so I was glad that we'd booked in advance.
My new job wasn't exactly what I’d expected.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
Time up to a point in the past
We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.
She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.
We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.
Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?
Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions
We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.
When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.
It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.
The thief had escaped when the police arrived.
Note that if there's only a single event, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.
The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT
The Romans had spoken Latin.)
Past perfect after before
We can also use before + past perfect to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.
They left before I'd spoken to them.
Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.
Adverbs
We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.
I called his office but he'd already left.
It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.
I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.
It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.
Had you ever visited London when you moved there?
I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Hello Aniyanmon
Yes, the present perfect is appropriate and correct in this context, i.e. a time period that began in the past (January 2018) and which includes the present moment.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Aniyanmon,
I'm afraid we don't check texts or correct them. We have far too many users and are too small a team to offer such a service!
I'm not sure what you mean by I had joined duty on... but I imagine you are talking about beginning work there. In that case we would probably say
I took up my post there on...
However, it is hard to be sure without knowing the full situation.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello AminulIslam
It depends on the context, but probably the first one is better.
All the best
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello AminulIslam.,
Both forms are possible in this context.
The past simple (was paved) here describes a feature of the path: the path was paved, the path was straight, the path was long etc.
The past perfect (had been paved) suggests a change has occurred: the path was not paved at one point and then had become paved.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team