Question

Identify the form of the Past Perfect Tense:
a) Subject + had + present participle
b) Subject + had + future participle
c) Subject + had + past participle
d) Subject + have + past participle

Answer 1

Hint: Past perfect tense is a perfective tense used to express action completed in the past.
For example: ‘I had finished’ is an example of the past perfect.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find the right syntax for past perfect tense.
The past perfect tense of a verb is formed by using the past tense of the auxiliary verb ‘have’, which is ‘had’, and the past participle of the main verb.
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question:
Option (a.), ' Subject + had + present participle', refers to the present participle of the main verb.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as we need the past participle of the main verb.

Option (b.), ‘Subject + had + future participle', refers to the future participle of the main verb.
Therefore, option (b.) is incorrect as we need the past participle of the main verb.

Option (c.), ‘Subject + had + past participle', refers to correct syntax for past participle tense.
So, the correct answer is “Option c”.

Option (d.), ‘Subject + have + past participle', refers to the present tense form of the auxiliary verb ‘have’.
Therefore, option (d.) is incorrect as we need the past tense form of the auxiliary verb.

Note:
In this question, remember that past perfect tense in a sentence describes something that happened in the past before another event in the simple past tense was completed in the past.
For example- I had started working by then.