Past Perfect and Past Simple

A. When we give an account of a sequence of past events, we usually put these events in chronological order using the past simple. If we want to refer to an event out of order - that is, an event which happened before the last event in the sequence we have written or spoken about- we can use the past
perfect.

Study the use of the past perfect and past simple: 

1. Don José was a wealthy Cuban landowner who emigrated to Mexico in 1959. The agricultural reforms had begun a few months before this. He moved again in 1965 and made his home in the United States. He had made his fortune in growing sugar cane as a young man in Cuba, and he brought his expertise to his new home.

B. When we understand that we are talking about events before another past event, we don't have to continue using the past perfect:

1. We bought a new car last month. We'd driven my parents' old car for ages, but it started (or had started) to fall apart. We put (or had put) a new engine in it, but that didn't solve (or hadn't solved) the problems we were having.

C. If the order of past events is clear from the context (for example, if time expressions make the order clear we can often use either the past perfect or the past simple:

1. After Ivan had finished reading, he put out the light. (or . . . Ivan finished...)
2. They were given help and advice before they had made the decision. (or ...they made...)
3. The two leaders agreed to meet, even though earlier talks had failed to reach an agreement. (or ...talks failed...)

D. The past perfect is often used in reporting what was originally said or thought in the present perfect or past simple. 

E. We can use either the past perfect or past simple (and often past continuous and past perfect continuous) when we talk about things that we intended to do, but didn't or won't now do in the future:

Bil planned to retire at 60, but we have persuaded him to stay for a few more years. (or Bill had planned..., Bill was planning..., Bill had been planning...)

Other verbs used like this include: consider + -ing; expect to; intend to; mean to; think about + ing/of + -ing; want to.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

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