By Tenses, Past perfect

Miriam, your explanations were really great, thank you very much! This turns out to be a quite interesting thread... TS, I can understand your problems with the correct usage, especially the ones you mentioned in your last few postings. You've mentioned a very interesting aspect here, one that...

1) The sentence, "What kind of world would exist today if the attempts to make antibiotics had not succeded?" uses the past perfect tense; i.e., "...attempts had suceeded." The past perfect indicates actions completed by a specific time in the past. The time of the successful creation of...

Yes, you are right, Miriam.. Thanks for pointing this out.. I was so focused on the "will" position, that I missed this important point. By the time I arrive, they will have eaten dinner. (future perfect) I am searching for other tenses that can be used with "by the time" expression: I had...

I've noticed lately, particularly in police reports on the news, this kind of past tense - "He's walked down the road - he's broken into a car - he's driven it for so many kilometres, then he's broken into a shop and stolen cigarettes and money. He's been observed and the police have been...

You can use past tense, of course: "If you kept that window open, your dog would get a cold". Despite being in past tense, this is not a statement about the past, it's just generic advice. You can use past perfect: "If you had kept that window open, your dog would have got a cold". This implies...

Before I came in, you had made a post here. ( past perfect is always used with another past tense whereas the action taken is a step in advance ) I had been living in this run-down for the past ten years before I moved out to a big new house. * Same concept but the ' past perfect continous '...

Can anybody help me with Perfect tenses where I Underline the verb in each sentance. On the line, write the tense of the verb:present perfect, past perfect, or future perfect. Thats what the directions say please help me e-mail me back at coolchick006@aol.com. Thanks!

Wrong sentence = At the station I realized I left the tickets at home My correction = At the station, I realized I had left the tickets at home Should it be: I realized I have left the tickets at home Should it be had or have? and I think the tense is past perfect but if someone could give me...

You have something that happened in the past (I realized) and then you have something that happened even before that - that's when you use the past perfect (I had forgotten).

and past perfect means? i know this is somewhat an unintelligent question but it would help me greatly if i had an easy and simple meaning.