Comments on: Let’s Hear A Little Respect for the Pluperfect

By: Barbara Youree

Barbara Youree — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 23:02:41 +0000

Thanks for making the pluperfect quite clear. I believe the best choice when it’s necessary to distinguish from the past—as shown in the example—is to begin in the pluperfect, then switch to the simple past for the rest of the paragraph. If a second or third paragraph is needed, then begin each with a reminder of the time period by again beginning with the pluperfect.

By: Vic

Vic — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:35:00 +0000

Frankly, I don’t like the use of the word “perfect” because it fails to describe any tense at all to me; it doesn’t seem to make sense. This is especially true for me when trying to learn another language.

By: scriveyn

scriveyn — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:50:04 +0000

Thanks allena, similarly it is Plusquamperfekt in German. When I first came upon the English expression pluperfect it sent shivers down my spine and still does.

That said, I use it quite naturally in English speech and writing. I come across texts occasionally where the simple past is used instead and it strikes me as wrong and unnatural every time.
There is nothing wrong with using the past perfect, it makes the meaning of a text clear and unmistakeable.

By: Tula

Tula — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:38:21 +0000

In one of my jobs, my boss consistently edited out what he considered “unnecessary” ‘had’ and ‘that’ words from some project documentation and proposals. He kept insisting that they were grammatically incorrect, which annoyed me tremendously as I’m quite proud of my writing and make a point of ensuring that it’s correct. Most people in high-tech go for the shortest version of any kind of written documentation. It’s very annoying.

By: allena

allena — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 19:59:37 +0000

In Spanish it’s called the pluscuamperfecto, which is very likely the coolest word ever. And I never understood it before I studied spanish.