How I Taught My Grandmother to Read / Bharat Our Land
Which happened first?
Use the past perfect to show which of two past events came first.
Two past actions: which came first? When two things both happened in the past, the earlier one takes the past perfect (had + past participle) and the later one takes the simple past.
From the story. The serial had come out as a book before Dassara, so the narrator could buy it. The book's publication is the earlier action.
More examples:
- 'By the time the bus arrived, the shop had closed.' (The shop closed first.)
- 'After I had finished my homework, I went out to play.'
- 'Before she left, she had locked the door.'
A small word that helps: already often sits inside the past perfect: had already begun, had already discussed.
A quick test: ask 'which happened first?' That one gets had.
Practise this lesson
Questions that get harder as you improve, a Tutor that helps without giving the answer away, and progress you can see. Free for every learner.
No account, no email address. Opens the real product.