过去完成时全解析

 过去完成时全解析 Intro

If I had know how nice the weather would be, I would have brought my bathing suit. In this lecture we will learn how to use the past perfect tense.

Lecture

Before my father moved to America, he had never met a foreigner. In this lesson we will learn how to use the past perfect tense. Before we begin let's look at some more examples:

Before we bought our house, we had looked at over 20 other houses.

My father started singing professionally in 1950. Before that he had worked as an engineer.

The past perfect is used to talk about past actions before another past action or past time, as in the examples above. It can also be used to speculate¹ about past actions. For instance²:

If we had known how cold it is, we wouldn't have come.

Had they known how expensive Paris is, they would have brought more money.

The past perfect is formed with /had/ followed by the past participle and it is the same for all subjects. Let's look at some more examples of the past perfect in the positive form:

I had paid for the hotel when I saw my old friend in the lobby³.

She had waited fifteen minutes when I came.

Here are some examples in the negative form:

Before their father took them to a cinema in 1955, they hadn't seen a movie.

We hadn't even arrived at the airport when our plane took off.

In this lesson we learned⁴ how to use the past perfect tense. Now go on to practice these examples on your own and then try the activities below:

Quiz A:

1.If I ____(know) how expensive it is , I would have ordered less.

2.I____(have) even given my answer when he told me I was wrong.

3.I____(have) left the restaurant when I ran into him.

Answer: 1. had known 2. hadn't 3.had

How do we talk about one action that occurs before another? We use the past perfect tense.

We use the past perfect tense to show that one action occurred before another action in the past. We use the past perfect tense with the action which took place first.

Rule1

If the order of the action is clear through the use of /before/ or /after, it is not necessary to use the past perfect. Use two simple past tense verbs.

Example1

Juan graduated from college after he passed his exams.

Juan started his job at Dean⁵ Witter after he graduated from college.

Rule2

Use the past perfect for an action if the order is unclear.

Example 2

Juan had finished college when he met Emma.

Juan had been married for a year when he started a new job.

Rule 3

To indicate the first of two actions, we can use /because/. The first action will appear in the clause⁶ immediately after /because/.

Example 3

Juan took the job at Dean Witter because he had heard good things about the company.

Rule 4

To indicate the second of two actions, we can use /by the time/ or/when/.

Example4

By the time he took employment⁷ at Dean Witter, Juan had been married for a year.

Juan had been to Paris five times when he first saw the Eiffel Tower.

Rule5

The past perfect is often used for reported speech.

Example 5

Juan said that he had studied French at college.

Quiz B

Use after, because, before, by the time, or when in the following sentences.

1.____I started college, I had moved into my own apartment.

2. We moved in the apartment on May 1 ____ we had agreed to rent it the month before.

3.____we had first looked at three cramped⁸ apartments. We decided⁹ to rent a big townhouse.

4.____ I became a vegetarian¹⁰, I ate meat.

5.____she moved into the house, she lived with her parents.

6. Carrie decided to marry Peter ___ she had dated him for 5 years.

7.____ Pico lyer wrote his first book, he traveled around the world.

8.____ Jamie had first gone to Venice to study, she now spoke¹¹ Italian.

9.____Picasso was 70, he had become a famous painter.

10. The manager made the appointment ___ he had checked his calendar.

Answer: 1.By the time 2.because 3. Because 4.Before 5. Before 6.when 7.Before 8.Because 9.By the time 10.when

1 speculate   

v.推测，推断，投机，做投机买卖

参考例句：

• It's dangerous to speculate.做投机买卖是很危险的。
• We don't know all the circumstances,so it would be pointless to speculate.我们不了解所有的情况，妄加推测是没有意义的。

2 instance   

n.例，例证，实例

参考例句：

• Can you quote me a recent instance?你能给我举一个最近的例子吗？
• He's a greedy boy,yesterday,for instance,he ate all our biscuits!他是个贪吃的孩子――比如，他昨天把我们的饼干都吃了！

3 lobby   

n.前厅，（剧院的）门廊

参考例句：

• As he walked through the lobby,he skirted a group of ladies.他穿过门厅时，绕过了一群女士。
• The delegates entered the assembly hall by way of the lobby.代表们通过大厅进入会场。

4 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

5 Dean   

n.(大学)院长，系主任，教务长

参考例句：

• The students much like the new dean.学生们很喜欢这位新系主任。
• Who is the dean of the Foreign Languages Department?外语系主任是谁？

6 clause   

n.（正式文件或法律文件的）条款，从句，分句

参考例句：

• The sentence consists of a main clause and a subordinate clause.这句中有一个主句和一个从句。
• What clause do you require in the contract?你要求在合同中订上什么条款？

7 employment   

n.雇用；使用；工作，职业

参考例句：

• A large office requires the employment of many people.一个大办事处需要雇用好多人员。
• The state of employment in this city is improving.这个城市就业状况正在改善。

8 cramped   

a.狭窄的

参考例句：

• The house was terribly small and cramped, but the agent described it as a bijou residence. 房子十分狭小拥挤，但经纪人却把它说成是小巧别致的住宅。
• working in cramped conditions 在拥挤的环境里工作

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

10 vegetarian   

n.素食者；adj.素食的

参考例句：

• She got used gradually to the vegetarian diet.她逐渐习惯吃素食。
• I didn't realize you were a vegetarian.我不知道你是个素食者。

11 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。