Lexic.us

Definition of Past perfect

1. Noun. A perfective tense used to express action completed in the past. "`I had finished' is an example of the past perfect"

Definition of Past perfect

1. Noun. A tense which represents actions that occurred before other actions in the past; the pluperfect tense. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Lexicographical Neighbors of Past Perfect

Literary usage of Past perfect

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. A Grammar of the German Language: Designed for a Thoro and Practical Study by George Oliver Curme (1922)
"Hence in the midst of a narrative where the past tense or past perfect has been uniformly used, the speaker changes to the près. perf. at once, ..."

2. English Grammar: The English Language in Its Elements and Forms ; with a by William Chauncey Fowler (1855)
"The past perfect denotes past time that precedes some other past time. Of this there are two forms: 1. " I had written the letter before he arrived. ..."

3. Classical Weekly (1910)
"German has only Present, Future, Past, Perfect, Future Perfect, past perfect. In French we have also Past Continuous or Imperfect, Past Historic and second ..."

4. English Grammar Simplified: Its Study Made Easy by James Champlin Fernald (1916)
"(4) The past perfect Tense expresses past action as completed before some ... The past perfect Tense is formed by prefixing had to the Past Participle of ..."

5. The Century Handbook of Writing by Garland Greever, Easley Stephen Jones (1918)
"When narration in the past tense is interrupted for reference to a preceding occurrence, the past perfect tense is used. Wrong: In the parlor my cousin kept ..."

6. First Latin Lessons by Harry Fletcher Scott (1922)
"The past perfect tense represents an act as completed at some specified or suggested time ... The English past perfect has the English auxiliary verb had. ..."

7. A Junior Latin Reader by Frederick Warren Sanford, Harry Fletcher Scott (1922)
"The past perfect subjunctive in the active voice is formed on the perfect ... The past perfect subjunctive of sum is formed in like manner with the stem ..."

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