Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

Reported clauses 

355b

The past perfect is very frequent in reported clauses where the reporting verb is in

the past:

Linda kept me informed and she 

said

that her husband 

had moved back in.

They

’d got back together again. She’d got pregnant.

The police 

told

me that he

’d done it very often.

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Past time | 619

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Reporting verbs include verbs of perception:

I 

noticed

he 

had hurt his leg.

He 

saw

that she 

had been able to cure herself.

References to changed states 

355c

The past perfect is often used to refer to situations which were true but which have

been or are to be changed. In such cases, had is often stressed in speech:

[telephone conversation between travel agent (A) and customer (B) ]

A: And you want to go London Hong Kong.

B: That’s right.

A: On the … what date do you wish to travel now?

B: I had booked on the third. But erm …

A: On the third.

B: Should be on the second. And this is the flight number.

I 

had planned to work till I was sixty but I can’t any more.

At the moment Sarah is quite interested in tourism, anything to do with

tourism. So it looks like she will leave school and go on to something like this.

I 

had hoped she’d carry on for a bit longer.