American Dictionary
Definition the past perfect in American English
the past perfect noun
noun
1
the past perfect simple and the past perfect continuous are the tenses used to talk about actions, behavior, or situations that began at a particular time in the past and were either complete or still continuing at that time. The past perfect simple consists of 'had' and a past participle, for example the verb group 'had reached' in the sentence 'By 1900 the population of New York had reached almost three-and-a-half million'. The past perfect continuous consists of a form of 'had' followed by 'been' and a past participle, for example 'had been planning' in the sentence 'By February, he had been planning the event for seven months'.
Synonyms and related words
