The past perfect negative Making the past perfect negative is simple! Just insert not between had and [past participle]
Example : We looked for witnesses, but the neighbors had not seen Tootles in the act. If Tootles had not included his own name in the message, we would have no idea who was behind it.
How to ask a question The formula for asking a question in the past perfect tense is had + [subject] + [past participle] When not to use the past perfect Don’t use the past perfect when you’re not trying to convey some sequence of events. If your friends asked what you did after you discovered the graffiti, they would be confused if you said:
Example :I had cleaned it off the door.
They’d likely be wondering what happened next because using the past perfect implies that your action of cleaning the door occurred before something else happened, but you don’t say what that something else is. The “something else” doesn’t always have to be explicitly mentioned, but context needs to make it clear. In this case there’s no context, so the past perfect doesn’t make sense.
The Future Perfect The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be completed before some other point in the future.
Example : The parade will have ended by the time Chester gets out of bed. At eight o’clock I will have left.
The future perfect tense is for talking about an action that will be completed between now and some point in the future.
The future perfect formula The formula for the future perfect tense is pretty simple: will have + [past participle]. It doesn’t matter if the subject of your sentence is singular or plural. The formula doesn’t change.
When to use the future perfect tense Sometimes, you can use the future perfect tense and the simple future tense interchangeably. In these two sentences, there is no real difference in meaning because the word before makes the sequence of events clear:
Example : Linda will leave before you get there. Linda will have left before you get there.
But without prepositions such as before or by the time that make the sequence of events clear, you need to use the future perfect to show what happened first.
Example : At eight o’clock Linda will leave. (This means that Linda will wait until 8 o’clock to leave.) At eight o’clock Linda will have left. (This means Linda will leave before 8 o’clock.)
