question_answer 13)

Read this sentence: M. Hamel had said that he would question us on participles.   In the sentence above, the verb form 'had said' in the first part, is used to indicate an 'earlier past. The whole story is narrated in the past. M. Hamel's 'saying' happened earlier than the events in this story. This form of the verb is called the past perfect.   Pick out five sentences from the story with this form of the verb and say why this form has been used.    

Answer:

(a) I had never listened so carefully, and that he had never explained everything with so much patience. (b) I had counted on the commotion to get to my desk without being seen. (c) For forty years he had been there in the same place ... (d) Not till then, when I had got a little over my fright, did I see ... (e) Only the desks and benches had been worn smooth; the walnut-trees...   Past perfect form is used to indicate the earlier of the two activities that happened in the past.