Quote:
Originally Posted by David L. Last year I almost drowned when I fell into an old well. The well was full of water because it had rained for two days.
I don't understand the problem you are having here.
'drowned' and 'fell' : past tense
'was' : past tense
then : the well was full of water at the time when he fell, because before that - two days previous to that - further back in time and the reason why the well was full : 'it had rained'
Perhaps you can post one of these long passages that are confusing you. |
Thanks for your post
Please read the following passage.
Over the last twenty years, the average size of households
has fallen dramatically. The number of one person households
has grown, due largely to the ageing of the population, as has the number of one parent families. Couples having smaller families have also contributed to the fall in household size.
In 1976, 60% of families were couples with children. By 1996, this
had fallen to 51%. Part of this change can be attributed to the increase in one parent families with dependent children, but most of the change is due to the increase in the proportion of couple only families. People are now having children later in life, and are living longer. Therefore, they are spending more time living in couple-only families, both before they have families and after their children have left home.
However, children are leaving home later. In 1981, 34% of children aged 20-24 lived with their parents. By 1991, this
had increased to 40%. This increase has, to some extent, countered the fall in the couples with non-dependent children only.
(Source: ABS Yearbook Australia 1997, Number 79 p. 81)
Source : Past Perfect Exercise
In this site they have given an exercise to find past perfect verb using the above passage. I know the answers. But the question is - I want to know the context for the usage of past perfect tense and present tense
Thank you