23 March 2016

pluperfect

[ploo-pur-fikt]

adjective

1. Grammar.
perfect with respect to a point of reference in past time, as had done in He had done it when I came.
designating a tense or other verb formation or construction with such meaning, as Latin portāveram “I had carried.”. The pluperfect is formed by combining the auxiliary verb had with the past participle of the main verb, as in ‘had jumped’ or ‘had written’.
2. more than perfect:
He spoke the language with pluperfect precision.
noun, Grammar.
3. the pluperfect tense, or other verb formation or construction with such meaning.
a form in the pluperfect.
4. another term for ‘past perfect’: denoting a tense of verbs used in relating past events where the action had already occurred at the time of the action of a main verb that is itself in a past tense. In English this is a compound tense formed with had plus the past participle

Usage

pluperfect subjunctive (grammar)

Used in subordinate clauses and expresses unreal past situations. The pluperfect subjunctive (or past perfect subjunctive) has the same form as the past perfect tense, as follows: HAD + PAST PARTICIPLE. For example, the subjunctive is the ‘If’ statement and the pluperfect is the ‘had + past participle’:

– I would’ve bought the dress if there hadn’t been such a long queue.

– If I had known you were busy, I wouldn’t have called.

– If I had seen you, I would have said hello.

Origin of pluperfect

Latin, Greek

1520-1530; < Latin plū (s quam) perfectum (more than) perfect, translation of Greek hypersyntelikós

Dictionary.com

Examples from the Web for pluperfect

Historical Examples

Anything to avoid the pluperfect, which the people cannot manage.
English As We Speak It in Ireland
P. W. Joyce

The rest as the pluperfect of gwîl, or of menny, to will, with the infinitive.
A Handbook of the Cornish Language
Henry Jenner

The imperfect and pluperfect alone have besides this a loosely attached particle.
The Philosophic Grammar of American Languages, as Set Forth by Wilhelm von Humboldt
Daniel G. Brinton

Anagram

flu precept
upper cleft

Today’s quote

Only the guy who isn’t rowing has time to rock the boat.

– Jean-Paul Sartre

On this day

23 March 1919 – Benito Mussolini establishes the Italian National Fascist Party. In 1936, Mussolini joins forces with Adolf Hitler through the Axis Pact. Following Mussolini’s arrest in 1943, the party was dissolved. The Italian Constitution has banned the reformation of the INF.

23 March 1924 – birth of Bette Nesmith Graham in Dallas, Texas. Bette is the inventor of Liquid Paper. Her son, Mike Nesmith, was a member of 1960s UK/American pop/rock band, The Monkees.

23 March 1956 – Pakistan becomes the first Islamic republic in the world. Republic Day in Pakistan.