Example: It has been suggested (1) that lipid peroxides formed in the arterial wall are active in atherogenesis. The suggestion has been widely accepted as reasonable. This indicates that the 'suggestion' and its 'acceptance' took place in the past but are still
having an effect now at the time of writing.
2.2.4 The Past Perfect If you want to talk about a past event or situation that occurred before a particular time
in the past, you use the past perfect.
E xample: In the second trial it was noticed that a culture plate had become contaminated by a mould. This indicates the "noticing" took place in the past and the culture plate was
contaminated before the "noticing" took place.
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Exercise 5 The original tenses in the following passage have been replaced with the infinitive forms
of the main verb and the auxiliary, if appropriate. Write in the most appropriate tense in
each space. (
Assume this was written in 1994 )
In 1981 there (be) .......... 41,097 people in Australia who (be/born) .......... in Vietnam. The male:female ratio (be) .......... 54:46. By the end of 1982, a total of 51,966 people from Vietnam (have/settle) ............... in Australia. Most of these people (live) ............. in large cities, with Sydney and Melbourne accounting for 67%. Most (be)..................... between the ages of 20 and 55 years. In 1981 the majority (have/be) .................in Australia for three years or less. 60% of people with more than three years' residence (have/become) .................... Australian citizens. In the 5 to 14 age group, 84% (speak) ................ a language other than English at home. 92% of those 15 and older (be) ................ also in this category. Over 29% of Vietnamese in Australia (be) ........ Buddhist, 18% (be) ...... Christian and 52% (be/classify) ........ as 'other' religions. The most common religion in this last group (be) ............ Taoism.
