Past Perfect (1)

F. We use the Past Perfect to show that something continued up to a time in the past (e.g. When George died he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years.)
a. We use the verb 'had' and the 'past participle' for the Past Perfect: The Past Perfect Simple is had + past participle (gone/ seen/ finished etc.) (e.g. I had finished the work.)
b. The Past Perfect is used in the same way as the Present Perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present.

F1. We use the Past Perfect tense:
a. for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past. (e.g. When George died he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years.)
b. for something we had done several times up to a point in the past and continued to do after that point. (e.g. He was a wonderful guitarist. He had been playing ever since he was a teenager.)
c. We often use a clause with 'since' to show when something started in the past. (e.g. They had been staying with us since the previous week.)
d. when we are reporting our experience and including up to the present. (e.g. My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had.)
e. for something that happened in the past but is important at the time of reporting. (e.g. I couldn’t get into the house. I had lost my keys.)
f. We use the Past Perfect to talk about the past in conditions, hypotheses and wishes. (e.g. I would have helped him if he had asked.)
g. This is the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk about things that happened before this time, we use the Past Perfect (e.g. When Ann arrived at the party, Bob had already gone home)

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Idiom 365

Out of the blue: Something that suddenly and unexpectedly occurs
Example: One of them wrote to us out of the blue several years later.

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