| past perfect |
| Definition - Another name for the pluperfect, an aspect that conveys the idea that a past event has been completed prior to another past event, e.g. I had finished my letter before he arrived. |
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Oxford English Dictionary - The term's first citation is from 1530: "The thre generall distinctions of tyme, present, parfytly past, and to come." (Jehan Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement de la langue françoyse, Introduction, 32) |
