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Dear Brad,
 
I studied a couple of other languages, as I suppose most of us have, and in those other languages, the perfect exists in differing forms from English and usually with an emphasis upon the existing state resulting from another condition or event.
 
Through all of the posts for the last couple of years concerning this matter, you established abuses or sloppiness regarding the use of 'have' as a helping verb when other options are available and perhaps the simple past alone is more efficient, but I do not recall whether you expressed a proper use of the perfect.
 
 
Grace and Peace, 

Mr. William R. D. Hillaker, M.Div
English & Humanities
Flint Central High School
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810.760.4032

>>> Brad Johnston <[log in to unmask]> 6/7/2011 10:15 PM >>>


She was tired because she <hadn't slept> didn't sleep the night before. 

 
He <had been living> lived in his car for several months before finally finding an apartment.
 
You need to find examples that work.


 


(1) She <had played> played well until she was injured. 
(2) He <had already been> was in Berlin for a month before he went to the opera.
(3) I <had already spoken> spoke Chinese as a child, but now I wanted to learn German. 
(4) We <hadn't known> didn't know anything about it until she finally explained everything. 
(5) The wolf <had already eaten> ate the grandmother before Little Red Riding-Hood came into the house. 

.
You need to find examples that work.
 
There is nothing the word 'had' can do for a past tense verb that the verb cannot do for itself. (1)
 
The past tense of "to be" is 'was' (singular) and 'were' (plural), NOT 'had been'. (2)
 
Trying to put 'had' in front of an irregular past tense verb forces the irregular past participle. (3), (4) & (5).
 
There is no significance to the italics in (2). I copied the block from your website and can't make the letters behave.
 
Had-for-did in the top line above is less common than the others but appears from time to time. Hmmm. I guess (4) is also had-for-did.
 
The problem here is that you need to find examples that make sense using the past perfect and cannot be made to make sense any other way. That's very important for a grammar text.
 
By the time the police arrived, the robbers had fled. How else can you say it? By the time something happened, something else had already happened.
 
When Sally started to high school, her mother had died and her father was in prison. (Dad's inside)
 
When Sally started to high school, her mother had died and her father had been in prison. (Dad's outside)
 
By the time something happened, something else had already happened.

 
.brad.07june11.

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