Tham khảo tài liệu 'oxford learner's grammar 3', ngoại ngữ, ngữ pháp tiếng anh phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 49 The past perfect When we say how many actions we do not use the continuous. I ve tried to phone the hotline at least twenty times. We use the present perfect for a state up to the present. My friend has beet in a wheelchair for two years now. I ve always hated hospitals. We can use the continuous for repeated actions. I ve been trying to phone the hotline all day. We do not use the continuous for a slate. NOT i ve always been-hcrìing Now look at these examples. We ve been living here since May. I IVe ne lived here since May. I ve been working there for six weeks. I I ve worked there for six weeks. With live and work either form is possible but the continuous is more usual. 49 The past perfect A Form The past perfect is had past participle. James apologized for the trouble he had caused. I didn t travel to the match because I hadn t bought a ticket. How long had the animals been without food or water We use had in all persons. Past perfect Short forms Positive someone had played. they d played Negative someone had not played. they hadn t played. Questions had someone played B Use of the past perfect We use the past perfect for an action or a state before a past time. Miranda lay on her bed. and stared at the ceiling. She was depressed. Her boyfriend Max had gone on holiday with his brother the day before. He hadn t invited Miranda to go with him. He hadn t even said goodbye properly. They had been friends for six months and everything had seemed fine. What had she done wrong This paragraph begins in the past simple. The situation is that Miranda lay on her bed. The writer looks back from this situation to a time before. Compare the present perfect and past perfect. Present perfect The floor is clean. Í have just washed it. Past perfect The floor was clean. I had just washed it. Verb tenses NOTH For the past perfect in If-clauses 24 . c Past simple and past perfect To talk about a single action in the past we use the past simple. 7 his lamp is new. I bought it .
