Introduction to past perfect

1. Establishing a sequence

2. • During his presidential campaign in 1960, John F. Kennedy had promised the “New
Frontier,” but the New Frontier ran into problems right away.
• The next year, theVoting Rights Act eliminated poll taxes, literacy requirements and
other tools that southern whites had traditionally used to keep blacks from voting.
• At the same time, young women who had readThe Feminine Mystique, celebrated
the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act and joined the moderate National
Organization forWomen.

3. • During his presidential campaign in 1960, John F. Kennedy had promised the “New
Frontier,” but the New Frontier ran into problems right away.
• The next year, theVoting Rights Act eliminated poll taxes, literacy requirements and
other tools that southern whites had traditionally used to keep blacks from voting.
• At the same time, young women who had readThe Feminine Mystique, celebrated
the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act and joined the moderate National
Organization forWomen.

4. • During his presidential campaign in 1960, John F. Kennedy had promised the “New
Frontier,” but the New Frontier ran into problems right away.
happened first
happened after

5. • The next year, theVoting Rights Act eliminated poll taxes, literacy requirements and
other tools that southern whites had traditionally used to keep blacks from voting.
happened first
happened after

6. • At the same time, young women who had readThe Feminine Mystique, celebrated
the passage of the 1963 Equal Pay Act and joined the moderate National
Organization forWomen.
happened first
happened after

7. Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past (The
New Frontier ran into problems )This is the starting point of the story.
Then, if we want to talk about things that happened before this time
we use Past Perfect.
John F. Kennedy had promised the “New Frontier,” but
the “New Frontier” ran into problems right away.
Image retrieved from
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/John-F-Kennedys-
New-Frontier-Bundle-2919612

8. Although the actions are not described in chronological order,
using Past Perfect makes the sequence clear:
eliminated
had used
Image retrieved from
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/08/give-
us-the-ballot-expanding-the-voting-rights-act/399128/

9. used
eliminated
eliminated
had
used

10. Form the past perfect with had + the past participle of the main verb.
Form the negative by adding not after had.
The form is the same for all subjects:
• John F. Kennedy had promised the most ambitious domestic agenda since the New
Deal.
• John F. Kennedy had not promised the most ambitious domestic agenda since
the New Deal.
• Had John F. Kennedy promised the most ambitious domestic agenda since
the New Deal?
• Yes, he had. / No, he hadn´t.
• What had John F. Kennedy promised ?

11. a. Use the past perfect to describe an event in a time period that leads up to another past
event or time period. Use the simple past to describe the later event or time period:
The urban riots that had erupted across the country every summer since 1964 continued and intensified.
b.The prepositions before, by, or until can introduce the later time period:
By the 1960’s, PresidentJohnson had inherited a substantial American commitment to anti-communist
SouthVietnam.
c.The past perfect is often used to give reasons or background information for later past
events.
The struggle for civil rights had defined the ‘60s ever since four black students sat down at a whites-only
lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, in February 1960 and refused to leave.

12. That’s all for today!Tomorrow we’ll be
doing exercises about this topic!