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Common Errors/Mistakes in English

Visited vs Have Visited vs Had Visited: How to Use Them Correctly

7 years ago 66.7K Views

Common Errors in English Sentences : Using correct tense an important part of every business communication as it reflects your personality, especially when you’re communicating with someone who is well-versed in English language.

Are you a non-native English speaker, confused between “visited vs. have visited”? This post will help you understand the grammar rules once and for all.

Using correct tense is an important part of every business communication as it reflects your personality, especially when you’re communicating with someone who is well-versed in the English language.

It’s quite common to find many non-native English users confusing “past tense” with “present perfect tense”.

So, let’s take a look at some examples below:

❎ I have visited the doctor this past week. ( wrong )

❎ Have you met your mother yesterday? ( wrong )

So, what do you think is wrong with these examples?

Explanation : This is a pretty common error in Asian countries where English communication is largely affected by their mother tongue. Many non-English languages carry grammar rules which can be very different from the grammar rules we follow in the English language.

In the English language, when you describe an event that occurs in the past, i.e. yesterday or last week, you essentially use the “past simple” tense of the verb.

In the examples above, “yesterday” and “this past week” are both “adverbs”, meaning they define the nature of the verb that precedes them.

In the first example, the speaker talks about an event (visiting the doctor) with information about its occurrence (this past week).

Please, note that the “timing of the event” (or time adverb) is of utmost importance here, which decides the “tense form” the verb must take in the sentence.

Here, “this past week” refers to an event that clearly occurred in the past. Therefore, the event itself (visiting the doctor) must take “the past simple tense”.

Hence, it would be right to express yourself in the following way.

I visited the doctor this past week.

Similarly, the correct version of the second example would be:

Did you visit your mother yesterday?

To make it even clearer for you, here’s how you should break the sentences to understand which tense they should take.

I + visited + the doctor + this past week

Visited = the “past simple tense” of the verb “visit”.

This past week = the adverb denoting “timing of the event”.

Know Your Adverbs

It’s important to know your adverbs well enough in order to form correct sentences, using the appropriate tense.

Let’s consider a few examples with different adverbs.

Now, Currently, Right Now, Today

You can use either present continuous or present perfect tense with these verbs. However, you can never use “past simple” with these.

For example, the following examples would sound plain stupid:

❎ He was unemployed currently. ( incorrect )

❎ He’s unemployed currently. ( correct )

❎ Was he sick right now? ( incorrect )

❎ Is he sick right now? ( correct )

❎ I came here today. ( incorrect )

❎ I’ve come here today. ( correct )

However, there are some “adverbs” that can take both “past tense” as well as “present perfect tense” depending on the context.

Here are Some Examples:

✅ Example #1: I have purchased a CD player recently. (present perfect tense)

✅ Example #2: I purchased that CD player recently. (past simple tense)

Oxford Dictionary defines “recently” as an adverb denoting “at a recent time” and “not long ago”.

Explanation:

In Example #1, we are using a perfect tense in order to name the action as the source of the present state. Whereas, in Example #2, we are using a past tense since the action is one of a sequence of past actions, a narrative.

Please, keep in mind the present perfect is a present tense, which makes a statement about the situation at the time of speaking.

However, the following example would be incorrect.

❎ I have purchased that CD recently.

This is because when you are talking about purchasing “that CD”, you have presumably purchased it in the past. Therefore, you should rather say, “I purchased that CD recently”.

Visited vs Had Visited

Believe it or not, many non-native English users find it hard to differentiate between past simple tense and past perfect tense. They often wonder if the two could be used interchangeably.

The truth is both these tenses offer different contexts to the event. Take a look at the following examples:

• Example #1 : I visited my doctor yesterday.
• Example #2 : I had visited my doctor yesterday.

Which of the above examples is correct?

Answer : The first one.

We use past tense when the time is specified, e.g. yesterday.

We use past perfect tense only when we refer to another event (a concurrent event) in the past. In other words, it must carry some context – “what happened after you visited the doctor yesterday?”

For example:

I had watched television yesterday when it was time to go to bed.✅ Activity in the past = “it was time”.

✅ Activity before the past = “had watched television”.

I had watched television yesterday, by the time my parents came back.

✅ Activity in the past = “my parents came back”.

In short, without any context to “the other activity” that was done after watching television, using “had watched” would be incorrect.

Therefore, if you only mean to mention “watching television” in the past, simply say, “I watched television yesterday”.

I hope this helps. Please, let me know if you have any questions.

Source : Stack Exchange and Quora

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Reader Interactions

24 reactions.

Simple and much informative

What is the difference in was visited and has-been visited /had been visited

Susanta Sahoo

Was visited (Something or someone has been visited). For example, The school was visited by the Minister of Education yesterday. While in the hospital, I was visited by many of my school mates.

Omg, this article completely provides such helpful information. I didn’t even have any idea about such grammatical errors. That’s totally detailed explanations. Thank you very much for giving us such useful information

Beimnet Teshome

thank you so helpful

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Past Tense of visit: Conjugations in Past and Present Participles

What is the past tense of “visit?” Most commonly, the past tense of the word “visit” is “visited.” Although the word form will change based on its participle. And the sentence where it’s used. For example, referencing “visit” in the present participle form will change it to “visiting,” but in the infinitive form, will be “visit.”

What is the past tense of the word "visit"

The past tense (past participle) form of “visit” is “visited.” The infinitive of the word form is “visit.” The present participle form is “visiting.” The past tense form is “visited” and past participle form is “visited.”

Understanding verb tenses

The general grammar rules that govern past tenses are as follows. The simple past tense form is created by adding a -ed or -d affix to the root word of the verb. Some verbs use a -t variation where they end in a -t. For example, when "dream" turns into "dreamt."

The past perfect tense is formed for regular verbs (ending in -ed, -d, or -t) by adding "had" followed by the verb. For example, "I had finished ."

The past continuous tense is formed by the verb "be" followed by the affix or ending of -ing. For example, " we were having dinner."

Lastly, the past perfect continuous tense is formed by adding "had been" followed by the affix or ending of -ing. For example, "I had been building a castle with my sister."

For more information on forming all past tenses, visit our " understanding verb tenses " resource.

Sentence examples for the past tense of the word "visit"

• Infinitive: I visit.
• Present participle: She is visiting.
• Past tense: I visited.
• Past particle: I have visited.

Verb forms of the word "visit"

Example sentences in all verb forms:

Indefinite present tense

Present continuous tense.

She/he/it is visiting.

Present perfect continuous tense

She/he/it has/had visited.

Present perfect tense

She/he/it has/had been visiting.

Simple past tense

She/he/it visited.

Past continuous tense

She/he/it were visiting.

Past perfect tense

Perfect continuous tense.

She/he/it will/shall visit.

Simple future tense

She/he/it will/shall be visiting.

Future perfect tense

She/he/it will/shall have visited.

Future perfect continuous tense

She/he/it will/shall have been visiting.

Sentence examples in all forms

Sentence examples in all participles and parts of speech :

Fact checked: Content is rigorously reviewed by a team of qualified and experienced fact checkers. Fact checkers review articles for factual accuracy, relevance, and timeliness. Learn more.

About the author

Dalia Y.: Dalia is an English Major and linguistics expert with an additional degree in Psychology. Dalia has featured articles on Forbes, Inc, Fast Company, Grammarly, and many more. She covers English, ESL, and all things grammar on GrammarBrain.

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Conjugation verb visit

Model : obey

Auxiliary : have , be

Other forms: visit oneself / not visit

Contractions

• he/she/it visits
• you visited
• he/she/it visited
• they visited

Present continuous

• I am visiting
• you are visiting
• he/she/it is visiting
• we are visiting
• they are visiting

Present perfect

• I have visited
• you have visited
• he/she/it has visited
• we have visited
• they have visited
• I will visit
• you will visit
• he/she/it will visit
• we will visit
• they will visit

Future perfect

• I will have visited
• you will have visited
• he/she/it will have visited
• we will have visited
• they will have visited

Past continous

• I was visiting
• you were visiting
• he/she/it was visiting
• we were visiting
• they were visiting

Past perfect

• I had visited
• you had visited
• he/she/it had visited
• we had visited
• they had visited

Future continuous

• I will be visiting
• you will be visiting
• he/she/it will be visiting
• we will be visiting
• they will be visiting

Present perfect continuous

• I have been visiting
• you have been visiting
• he/she/it has been visiting
• we have been visiting
• they have been visiting

Past perfect continuous

• I had been visiting
• you had been visiting
• he/she/it had been visiting
• we had been visiting
• they had been visiting

Future perfect continuous

• I will have been visiting
• you will have been visiting
• he/she/it will have been visiting
• we will have been visiting
• they will have been visiting
• let's visit

Perfect participle

• having visited

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• English Grammar

Past perfect

Level: intermediate

The past perfect is made from the verb  had  and the past participle of a verb:

I had finished the work. She had gone .

The past perfect continuous is made from  had been and the - ing form of a verb:

I  had been  work ing  there for a year. They had been  paint ing the bedroom.

The past perfect is used in the same way as the present perfect , but it refers to a time in the past, not the present. We use the past perfect:

• for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past :

When George died, he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years. She didn't want to move. She had lived in Liverpool all her life.

For this use, we often use the past perfect continuous:

She didn't want to move. She had been living in Liverpool all her life. Everything was wet. It had been raining for hours.

• for something that happened several times before a point in the past and  continued after that point :

He was a wonderful guitarist. He had been playing ever since he was a teenager. He had written three books and he was working on another one.

• when we are reporting our experience up to a point in the past :

My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had. I was pleased to meet George. I hadn’t met him before, even though I had met his wife several times.

• for something that happened in the past and is important at a later time in the past : 

I couldn't get into the house. I had lost  my keys. Teresa wasn't at home. She had gone  shopping.

We often use expressions with for and since  with the past perfect:

I was sorry when the factory closed. I had worked there  for ten years .  I had been watching that programme every week  since it started , but I missed the last episode.  

We do not normally use the past perfect continuous with stative verbs . We use the past perfect simple instead:

Up until that moment, I' d never believed   (NOT been believing ) in astrology.

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Past perfect and hypotheses

We can also use the past perfect to make hypotheses about the past (when we imagine something). See these pages:

• Verbs in time clauses and conditionals
• Wishes and hypotheses

Hi Jonathan 1 - Is this correct? - When we arrived at the station the train left before ( Mean The train left the station first) - we arrived at the station the train left before ( Mean The train left the station first ) - Emma didn't come to the cinema because she saw the film before ( Mean Emma saw the film first )

2 - Does the past simple same meaning the past perfect with (because , After , until) The party couldn't start until Kate had arrived OR The party couldn't start until Kate arrived

After the exams had finished they had a party. OR After the exams finished they had a party.

Emma didn't come to the cinema because she'd seen the film OR Emma didn't come to the cinema because she saw the film

3 - Can I use any time reference and I mean I did before this time like (yesterday / last week / this week / this summer / by 2023 / by 2024 )

example - She'd published her first poem yesterday OR this week OR last week ( I mean before yesterday OR this week OR last week ) - She'd published her first poem by 2024 OR by 2023 ( I mean before by 2024 OR by 2023) - They hadn't had a foreign holiday until this summer.

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Hi HLH,

• When we arrived at the station the train left before - no, the meaning is unclear. It needs the past perfect "had (already) left" to show that it happened first. Otherwise, it's unclear because "when" may be understood as meaning they happened at the same time (instead of one first, then the other one). Also, you can't use "before" together with "when". Use "already" instead.
• we arrived at the station the train left before - no, it needs a conjunction to join the two clauses. See also the comments above.
• Emma didn't come to the cinema because she saw the film before - yes! You can also use the past perfect "had seen" here.

3. Only if you use it with "by".

Hope that helps!

LearnEnglish team

Hi, are these sentences correct? 1. Today after breakfast, we went for a walk on the Island and explored areas we had not seen yesterday. - Can we use 'yesterday' in Past Perfect?

2. She has not been seen since yesterday. - I know we cannot use 'yesterday' in Present Perfect, but what sentence should we replace it with then?

Hello aisyki,

1) Yes, that's fine.

2) The present perfect is fine here. You cannot use present perfect with a fixed time (e.g. yesterday, last Thursday, 3.00) but you can use it with since + a fixed past time (e.g. since yesterday, since last Thursday, since 3.00). This is because since means 'from this time to the present' and so creates an open time frame.

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, John is happy as he had done well in English this year. Last year he had failed in English.

Is this correct?

Hello Manu P Nair,

There is no reason to use past perfect in the first sentence, so I would change it to ' ...as he did well in English this year ' if the year is at an end, or ' ...as he has done well in English this year ' if the year is still continuing. In the second sentence I also don't see why you would use the past perfect. You are describing a finished past situation and the past simple is perfectly sufficient: ' ...he failed English '.

Hi British Council.

I've seen 'yet' used with past perfect on a couple of occasions, but it doesn't sound right to me. Is this more of an American English usage, is it wrong or is it just me?

As a British English speaker I would say that it is unusual and often can sound quite awkward, but is not wrong and in some contexts can be OK, especially when the past time reference is introduced with 'when'. For example:

Einstein had not yet finished school when he discovered an original proof of the Pythagorean theorem.

You can find a good discussion of the topic in one of the answers on this page:

https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/264989/is-it-possible-to-use-yet-with-past-simple

Sorry for my slow understanding. From one of your examples you stated "When George died, he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years" but according to the form of past perfect is had and past participle of the verb.

Hello dulakisaika,

'Married' looks like a past participle here, doesn't it, but it is actually an adjective in this sentence. Thus the past participle form is as described: had + past participle, where the past participle is 'been'.

You could replace 'married' with other adjectives: had been married, had been happy, had been worried, had been lonely, had been tired etc.

Hello everyone! I have a question about “until and since” I see here that you used this sentence”I had been watching that programme every week since it started” and here we have two actions, the one that happened before is started then had been watching! Right? So, how this happens? As I know, past perfect happens first, but here I see that simple past happens first! The programme started, then I started watching it!

Another question about “until” here’s an example “I didn’t say anything until she had finished talking”. As I see, the first thing happened that I didn’t say, then he finished. And here “until” sounds like “before” so, can I use before in this kind of sentences? For example: I didn’t say anything before she had finished talking.

Another example:

I had not studied English before I moved to New York. I had not studied English until I moved to New York. OR I didn’t study English before I had moved to New York. I didn’t study English until I had moved to New York.

Which of them are right?

So, why I use past perfect as this when using until and since?

Thank you in advance.

Hi khaledAl5,

The full example is: I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode . The past perfect "had been watching" shows that the "watching" action was completed before "I missed the last episode" (not before "since it started", which is illogical, as you mentioned). The past perfect is not used for "since it started" because that is not the key connection between the actions. The key connection is between the actions in bold: these together make the larger meaning of the whole sentence. I should point out that the past perfect is not used simply to show that one action happened before another one. There also needs to be a meaningful connection between the past perfect and past simple actions, i.e. they make larger meaning together. Here, the larger meaning is that my watching habit was broken.

The usage of the past perfect with before/until is a different usage. We can use before/ until  + past perfect to show that an action was not done or was incomplete at the time of the past simple action . This is the meaning in your other examples, e.g.  I didn’t say anything until she had finished talking (= at the time when I did not say anything, she had not yet finished talking; i.e. "talking" was incomplete, so I only spoke after she had finished talking). Yes, you can use "before" instead of "until" here.

About the New York sentences, they are all grammatical. The first two use the past perfect simply to show the time order of events. The second two use the past perfect with the "not done or incomplete at the time of the past simple action" meaning. But it is important to note that the sentences focus on different things. The first two sentences are focused on "I moved to New York", and that seems to be the main topic of the conversation. In comparison, the second two sentences are focused on "I didn't study English". The focus is usually shown by the past simple, and the past perfect provides some kind of background information for the past simple action. So, as you do your English practice, it is worth looking out for how the past perfect is used in longer texts (not just example sentences), because the meaning and reason for using it depends a lot on the context and the focus of not just sentences but whole paragraphs and conversations.

I hope that helps.

Thank you so much for your explanation, and I appreciate your effort.

So, as you said, I just can use “until + past perfect” when the action in past simple is negative:

The party couldn't start until Kate had arrived. Right?

Thank you again for your patience and your time.

Hi khaledAl5,

Yes! That's right. I am glad the explanation was helpful :)

Hello everyone, I'm new here so I hope this question hasn't already been asked. In the sentence "Lina was crying because she had been reading a sad book" why do I use both verbs (crying and reading) with ing form. The sentence is an example of the past perfect continuous tense, but I thought that one verb should use the past perfect continuous and the second in the past simple tense. What am I missing? Thanks in advance

Hi Alita051,

Welcome! We hope you enjoy learning English here.

It's also correct to say  Lina cried because she had been reading a sad book . Both the past continuous and past simple are fine. The choice between the past continuous ( was crying ) and past simple ( cried ) depends on whether the speaker wants to present this action as one with duration or not.

I don't know if this is just a single sentence by itself or it is part of a larger text, but the larger text may also give a reason for choosing the past continuous. For example:

• The past continuous is often used to show actions in progress at a particular past moment, as a kind of background to it. For example:  I entered the room and looked at Lina.  Lina was crying because she had been reading a sad book. I passed her a tissue to dry her eyes ... 
• The past simple may be used if the speaker wants to tell actions in sequence, e.g.:  Lina cried because she had been reading a sad book. Then, she got up and put the book back on the shelf  ...

This is a separate issue from the past perfect continuous.

Does that make sense?

Can we start a sentence with the Past Perfect? Like in this example: "My family and I hadn’t traveled in a long time, so we planned to travel to Australia last summer. "

Helly liliyaryaboshapko,

Yes, you can. Normally the topic of traveling or last summer would already have been introduced in the conversation before saying a sentence with the past perfect like this, though it's also possible without that context. It depends very much on the situation, but it looks as if you've got the right intuition here.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Good morning,

I have a question about the linking word (when)

Let me show you the context:

“ I was watching TV in my room, and my brother was studying in his room. Afterwards, I finished watching and at the same time my brother finished his studying. Then our father entered the house and asked us “What did you do before I came?” ” Can I use here this expression: >> When I had watched TV, my brother had studied. Actually, I want to ask If I can use the same tense in the two clauses with (when). As I know (when) is a time expression, so, can I use it with (present perfect) to refer to a finished or unfinished action?!. In fact I asked many teachers all over the world about using (when) with other tenses, but everyone gave me something different. Some of them say you can, the others say you can’t!! So because you are a verified site that everyone can rely on, please I want to know exactly how to use (when) with the other tenses.

Thanks in advance best instructors.

Yes, you can use the same tense in the two clauses with "when". For example:

• When I watched TV, my brother studied . (watched = past simple; studied = past simple)

Note that your examples "had watched" and "had studied" use the past perfect: (not present perfect). The past perfect isn't right here because the past perfect shows an action that happened before another past action or time. But in this answer, the two actions ( watched TV / studied ) happened at the same time, not one before the other.

To use the past perfect, you could say something like "I'd watched TV by the time you came home, and my brother had studied." However, in the context of answering your father's question, it sounds a bit unnatural as an answer.

It also doesn't answer your father's question very directly. His question is: What did you do? . It's not wrong to say When I watched TV, my brother studied , but it is emphasising WHEN you did something, not WHAT you did. A more direct answer would be something like I watched TV and my brother studied (past simple).

Thank you so much for your help and response. But the other thing I want to know is: Can I use present perfect with when in the two clauses? To mean that the two actions happend and finished or unfinished?

For example: I have learnt English when I have lived in England. ( Now I don’t live there or still live there) so it’s ok to use this kind of sentences? And can I use “when” with all tenses?

Please excuse me for this question, and I am sorry for any inconvenience.

Hello khaledAI5,

I'm afraid the use of the present perfect in the sentence you ask about is not correct.

The answer to your question is in the Present perfect with time adverbials section of our  Present perfect  page. 'when' is used to refer to a finished past time and the present perfect is used to speak to an unfinished time, so the two are incompatible.

Hope this helps.

Hi, I was wondering if you could give me some feedback information on the following sentence and whether it's correct way of saying or is there any better way of forming it.

-"As we were driving to New York, we saw a car crash that had occurred a moment before."

I used Past Continuous tense for the background (longer) action, then Past Simple for the main action in this particular event (seeing a car crash), and then Past Perfect to emphasize that the car crash had occured before us seeing it.

Does that make any sense or did I get something wrong?

Thanks in advance!

Hello again  _Chris_,

That sentence is absolutely fine. Well done!

Hello! Could you tell me please whether it is possible to use Past Perfect Continuous in the following interrogative sentence? What had you been doing since you left school? We talk about events that happened in the past and aren't relevant now.

Hello bloody_kary,

Yes, that is possible in certain contexts. For example, imagine we are in our 30s and we're talking about our lives in our 20s. You tell me how you left school at 22 and then start talking about taking a job at 24. I could ask about what happened in between with this question.

All the best, Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

Hello, could you please help me with the following⬇️

I can’t understand why the fist part of the sentences is in Past Simple, but the second is Past Perfect Simple

“However, Newton was sure that he WAS first and that Leibnitz HAD COPIED him.”

“In 50 BC the Senate ordered Caesar to return to Rome. By that time, Crassus WAS DEAD and Pompey HAD BECOME Caesar’s enemy.”

Does it have anything to do with the stative verb “be”? I could not find any information about NOT using stative verbs in Past Perfect Simple.

Could you please clarify it

Thanks, Wish you all good

Hi margo_english,

These sentences use past simple, but past perfect would also work here too ( Newton was sure that he had been first ... / By that time, Crassus had died ...).

People often simplify by using the past simple instead of the past perfect. This often happens when the time relationship of the events is already clarified by other parts of the sentence. For example, in sentence 2, the phrase "By that time" clearly places the action as happening earlier than the previous action/time. 

The other actions are probably put in the past perfect to avoid ambiguity of meaning. In sentence 1 "Leibnitz had copied him" clearly refers to the single occasion that is being described. On the other hand, if the person had written "Newton was sure that he was first and that Leibnitz copied him", it could be understood as a repeated or regular copying (since the past simple may also show a regular or repeated action, as well as a single action). In sentence 2, "Pompey had become ..." shows that the time of this action is before the first event (Caesar returning to Rome). If the person had written "By that time, Crassus was dead and Pompey became Caesar’s enemy", it could be understood as happening after the first event (Caesar returning to Rome), i.e. a sequential action. The phrase "By that time" is a bit distant, so it does not clearly place the action as an earlier one.

With regards to the use of past perfect tense, can you advise which of the following sentences is correct?

1) After Jane had made sure she had signed the document, she left the office.

2) After Jane had made sure she signed the document, she left the office.

3) After Jane made sure she had signed the document, she left the office.

There are 3 actions in the sentence ie ‘made sure’, ‘sign’, ‘left’, hence I am confused which tense I should use for each of the 3 verbs. Thank you very much!

Hello. Could you please help me choose the correct choice in the following sentence? Why? I think with "already" we can't use "perfect continuous", right? - By the time I got to the stadium, they (had already played - had already been playing) for ten minutes. Thank you.

Hi Ahmed Imam,

I would choose the second option -  had already been playing - because the emphasis is on how long they had been playing, so the continuous form fits well.

It is fine to use "already" with the past perfect continuous. "Already" means "before the specified time", which in this case is the time I got to the stadium.

Hello, again Jonathan. If we said the sentence with past perfect "had already played", would it be wrong? Thank you.

No. That would be fine too (although the continuous version would be preferred, I think).

1.I found out someone broke into my house and stole my stuff. 2. i found out someone had broken into my house and stolen my stuff.

(What's the difference here do they mean the same thing and what's natural?)

3.My phone was lagging then I Found out someone went through my phone. 4.My phone was lagging then I found out someone had gone through it.

(What's the difference here do they mean the same thing and what's more natural.) Can i use Past simple in both example do they have the same meaning or there is difference

Hello Romy,

All four of these sentences are fine, though 4 is better than 3 because it suggests a relationship between sequence of events more than 3 does.

Yes But is there any difference between 3 and 4? What's more natural thing to say

In First two I was told past simple means both thing happened at same time but I Asked you and you said they are same I am really confused because I also think they both mean same but I am not sure If i used past simple would it be wrong? What's more good English

As I think we've explained, we're not able to continue giving advice about questions like this. This is not what we're here for. I'd suggest you find a teacher.

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish Team

Hello LearnEnglish Team. the garden was wet.it had been raining. that has no connection to the present and that means the garden is dry now . right or not?

Hi AboWasel,

Yes, it has no connection to the present. So, it gives us no information about how the garden is now - it could be dry, or wet (if it has rained again since then, for example). We don't know!

Hello LearnEnglish Team,

Could you please explain to me why we use the past perfect here?

"I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode."

According to the grammar, Past perfect is used to talk about an action that hapens BEFORE another action in Past Simple. Therefore, the first action is the action in Past Perfect and the second action is in past simple. But in this sentence the first action is "start" and the second one is "watch", so why is "watch" in past perfect? Many thanks in advance.

Hello GrammarLover,

The second action is not 'it started' but rather 'I missed'. The phrase 'since it started' establishes a point in time in the past, and then there's the repeated activity of watching the programme every week since then, and then there's the action of missing the last episode.

Hope that clears it up for you.

Yeah: as you said "it started" happens first and, after that, the action of "watching" happens. Therefore, if the action of watching happens after the action of start, how is it possible that "watching" is in Past Perfect and "start" in past simple and not the other way round? For example, if I say "I realised I had left my keys at home" --> I put "had left" in past perfect because it is the first action and I put "realised" in past simple because the action of realise happens after the action of leave. In our sentence, "start" happens first and, later, the action of "watch" happens.

"I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode."

The past perfect is emphasises that one action occurs before one other action. In this sentence, there are two other actions -- 'it started' and 'I missed' -- and so you have to choose which one the past perfect refers to.

The idea that I was watching a programme before it started is pretty unusual, but the idea that I was watching it before missing the last episode is not. This is why I assume the reference point is 'I missed the last episode' instead of 'it started'.

As you can see, the past perfect situates an action in relation to another reference point. That reference point can occur very close to the past perfect, but it doesn't have to. In fact, the reference point is often not even in the same sentence, but in another previous sentence. It's important to think about what makes sense; the grammar expresses meaning rather than determining it.

Ok, I get your point. The sentence I am worried about and would like to check (a student of mine wrote it) is the following:

"He was my best friend since we were 5 years old."

If it was in the present, the sentence would be "He has been my best friend since we were 5 years old", so I thought that if we move that sentence into the past (like in the story of my student), the sentence should be "He had been my best friend since we were 5 years old", but I don't know how to justify my choice because the starting point is 5 years old but in my sentence it sound as if the first action was to be friends... I am confused. What do you think the correct sentence for my student would be?

Assuming that your student's story is about your student's past (but when he is older than five), 'He had been my best friend since we were five years old' is probably the most appropriate form, especially if the description continues. For example, if your student is now 25 and is writing about a time when he was 15, then 'He had been my best friend since we were five years old, but he was beginning to change and so we were growing apart' works well -- the past reference point is that moment in the past when they were growing apart and the previous state was 'we had been best friends since the age of five'.

Does that make sense? If the situation your student was writing about is very different, I can try to help you make sense of it if you let me know what it is.

Best wishes, Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

It is hard to explain it here in writing instead of having a whiteboard where I can draw a timeline... but I will try to explain what I have on my mind.

If the sentence was about the present: "He has been my friend since we were five", the FINISHING POINT is NOW and the STARTING POINT is "we were five" (that is to say: the action of being friends started at a specific point in the past (we were five) and continues until now.

If the sentence is talking about the past (yes, this is the case of my student's story. The story talks about the moment when the police came because he was missing. My student says that in the previous sentence, but I think that would be the finishing point. Then the story would be "It was the police. John was missing. John had been my best friend since we were five years old.". Therefore, in that story, the action of being friends started at the age of five and it continues until the moment when the police came. So the starting point is "we were five" and the finishing point is "the police came", right? And the action of be friends for many years happens before the police came, so the second action is in past simple (the police came) and the first action is in past perfect (had been friends) because it happens before the police came. Right? So far so good. I get that. Now this part is clear in my mind. The only thing that I still don't understand why "we were friends" is in past simple and not in past perfect because it happens BEFORE THE PAST PERFECT! The past simple never happens before the past perfect, that is the part that doesn't add up. The starting point is we were five, so if it is the starting point, of course it happens before. For example, if I say "I have been friends since we were five", the action of be five happens BEFORE the action of be friends, and the past simple happens before the present perfect, so it makes sense to put the verb "be five" in past simple and the verb "be friends" in present perfect because the action of be five happens BEFORE THE ACTION OF BE FRIENDS! Then, the past perfect happens before the past simple, for example "When I got home, I realised that I had left my keys at home." ---> the action of leave happens before the action of realise. So if the verb realise is in past simple and the action of leave happens before realise, the action of leave has to be in past perfect (had left). So here I am applying the same logic. The verb that we use with since is always the starting point, so it happens before the action in the perfect tense (I have been working here since I was 20 -- the action of be 20 is the starting point of work, so it happens before work, so the first action has to be in past simple and the second one in present perfect). In my student's case, the action of be 5 is the starting point of being friends, so it happens before being friends. So how is it possible that we use past simple for an action (be 5) that happens before an action in past perfect (be friends)? It is supposed to be the other way around: past perfect happens before past simple. That is the thing that doesn't add up to me... Do you know what I mean? Not sure if I managed to explain it well in writing...

I'm pretty sure I understand what you mean. I think your mistake is in thinking that the 'since' clause is the reference point that the past perfect is referring to.

"It was the police. John was missing. John had been my best friend since we were five years old." For the sake of explanation, here is the timeline that I understand for this story, which is told in 2022 (after all of the events below). I've invented the exact years, obviously, and include them only in the hope that it helps clarify the timing.

1. we were five years old (1985) 2. we became best friends (later in 1985) 3. we were best friends for many years (1985-2020) 4. John went missing (2020) 5. the police came to ask about John (later in 2020)

All of the clause 'John had been my best friend since we were five years old', which has a past perfect verb as its main verb, takes 5 (the moment the police came later in 2020) as its reference point; 'had been' thus refers to 3 (1985-2020). In other words, 'John had been my friend' does NOT take 'since we were five years old' as its past reference point.

I admire your dedication to understanding this.

1a) He was craving pizza because he didn't have it for months.

1b) He was craving pizza because he hadn't had it for months.

2a) he smelled so bad because he didn't have shower for 10 days.

2b) he smelled so bad because he hadn't had shower for 10 days.

What's the difference here and what's correct?

Hello ROMY learner,

It's possible to use 1a) and 2a), but I would recommend avoiding them and using 1b) and 2b) instead.

In time clauses after conjunctions such as 'after', 'as soon as', 'when', we often use the past simple instead of the past perfect because these time conjunctions make the sequence of events clear. 

Even though the sequence of events in the 'because' clauses in your sentences is also quite clear, the substitution of the past perfect with the past simple is less common in clauses beginning with 'because'. This is why I recommend the second versions.

Hello, I just gave a lesson on Past Perfect Continuous, and my student asked me why we don't use "didn't do" as a response, instead of "hadn't done"? For example, "Sophie was tired because she hadn't been sleeping properly" as opposed to "Sophie was tired because she didn't sleep properly". My thoughts are, that the former example is talking over a longer period of time in the past, whereas the latter is just about last night. I would be very happy if you could clear this up for me. Many thanks, Mat.

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Past Perfect – English Grammar

Past perfect verb tense in english.

The past perfect is “the past before the past.” You can use it to talk about an event that happened before another event in the past. The past perfect is formed with:

had + past participle

• I had studied English for several years before I traveled to the U.S.
• I hadn’t studied English before I traveled to the U.S.
• Had you studied English before you traveled to the U.S.?

Past Perfect Example 1

Imagine you are late for work on the day of an important meeting.

• The meeting started at 8:00
• You arrived at 8:15

“The meeting had already started by the time I arrived.”

The past perfect shows an event that happened before another event in the past.

Past Perfect Example 2

Imagine that there is a husband and wife who got divorced last year. Before the divorce, they were married for 3 years:

• They were married from 2008-2011.
• They got divorced in 2011.

They had been married for 3 years when they divorced.

The past perfect is also used to show an action that continued until a certain point in the past.

It’s common to use the short form ‘d:

• They ‘d been married 3 years when they divorced.
• When I checked my cell phone, I saw that she ‘d called me twice.
• By the end of the day, I ‘d written two hundred e-mails.

“Had had”?

With the past perfect, it’s possible to have the structure “had had” and “hadn’t had” in a sentence, when “had” is both the auxiliary verb and the main verb. In these cases, it’s very common to use the short form: ‘d had.

• I had had five different jobs by the time I was 30 years old. I ‘d had five different jobs by the time I was 30 years old.
• When I saw him, I could tell that he had had too much to drink. When I saw him, I could tell that he ‘d had too much to drink.
• I told my boss that I hadn’t had enough time to finish the project.
• We had never had an argument until last week.

Signal Words for the Past Perfect

In general, these words (only when used about a situation in the past) signal the use of the past perfect in the sentence:

• By the time I ‘d finished all the work by the time you called.
• When When we arrived at the airport, our flight had already left.
• Before Before we sold our car, we had owned it for 12 years.
• Until He ‘d never met a native English speaker until he visited London.
• Said She said that she ‘d lost her wallet.

Note: The simple past and the past perfect are often in the same sentence, but not necessarily. It’s possible for the first sentence to establish the “context” of the past, and for following sentences to be in the past perfect:

• I first met John in 2001. He had been looking for work for the past two years. Although he had gone for interviews in several big companies, nobody had hired him.

Learn more English verb tenses!

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• To Visit Conjugation

Continuous Perfect

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Perfect tenses, continuous (progressive) and emphatic tenses, compound continuous (progressive) tenses, conditional, subjunctive.

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Visit Past Tense: Verb Forms, Conjugate VISIT

The past tense of visit is visited

The Forms of Visit

Conjugate visit, visit in present simple (indefinite) tense, visit in present continuous (progressive) tense, visit in present perfect tense, visit in present perfect continuous tense, visit in past simple (indefinite) tense, visit in past continuous (progressive) tense, visit in past perfect tense, visit in past perfect continuous tense, visit in future simple (indefinite) tense, visit in future continuous (progressive) tense, visit in future perfect tense, visit in future perfect continuous tense, leave a comment cancel reply.

Conjugation English verb to visit

Simple present, present progressive/continuous, simple past, past progressive/continuous, present perfect simple, present perfect progressive/continuous, past perfect, past perfect progressive/continuous, future progressive/continuous, future perfect, future perfect continuous, conditional, progressive, perfect progressive, translation to visit.

Visit Past Tense

visited past tense of visit is visited.

Visit verb forms

Conjugation of visit.

• What is the past tense of waterlog in English?
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PastTenses is a database of English verbs. One can check verbs forms in different tenses. Use our search box to check present tense, present participle tense, past tense and past participle tense of desired verb.

'visit' conjugation table in English

Past participle, present participle, present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous, past continuous, past perfect, past perfect continuous, future continuous, future perfect, future perfect continuous.

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Past perfect simple ( I had worked )

Past perfect simple: form.

We use had + the -ed form of the verb.

Verbs: basic forms

Regular verbs

Irregular verbs

Past perfect simple: uses

Time up to then.

The past perfect refers to time up to a point in the past (time up to then), just as the present perfect refers to something that happened in the time up to the moment of speaking (time up to now):

I ’d seen all of Elvis Presley’s movies by the time I was 20!

Present perfect simple ( I have worked )

Reported clauses

We commonly use the past perfect in reported clauses where the reporting verb (underlined) is in the past:

“Mr Hammond drove through a red light.”

The policeman said Mr Hammond had driven through a red light.

No one told me that the shop had closed .

I phoned Katie and she said the kids had had a day off school so she ’d taken them ice skating.

We also use the past perfect when the reporting verb is a verb of perception and is in the past tense:

My Dad was really angry because he heard I hadn’t come home until 3 am!

I saw she ’d bought the DVD so I asked if I could borrow it.

The doctor felt my mother had got worse since last week.

Talking about changed states

We often use the past perfect to refer to situations which have changed. In speaking, had is often stressed:

A: Are you going anywhere today? B: I had planned to go to the beach but look at the rain! ( had is stressed; the meaning is ‘I have now changed my mind’)

I’m very happy working as an engineer but I had wanted to be an actor when I was younger.

The past perfect in conditional clauses

We must use the past perfect when we imagine a different past in a clause with if :

I would have helped to paint the house if you ’d asked me. (You didn’t ask me.)

Sarah couldn’t come with us to the cinema. She would have loved it if she had been there. (She wasn’t there.)

We don’t use the past perfect in the main clause of a conditional sentence. It is only used in the conditional clause:

[conditional clause] If we had seen you walking , [main clause] we would have stopped to give you a lift .

Not: If we had seen you walking, we had stopped …

Conditionals

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small things or jobs of different types

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Two siblings become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior while visiting them on vacation. Two siblings become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior while visiting them on vacation. Two siblings become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior while visiting them on vacation.

• M. Night Shyamalan
• Olivia DeJonge
• Ed Oxenbould
• Deanna Dunagan
• 785 User reviews
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• 1 win & 14 nominations

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• Trivia According to statements made on Twitter, director M. Night Shyamalan prepared three different cuts of the film: one that was "pure comedy," another that was "pure horror," and a final one that "fell somewhere in between."
• Goofs The amount of snow covering the landscape varies dramatically from day to day and even between scenes taking place on the same day.

Grandma : Would you mind getting inside the oven to clean it?

• Alternate versions In the FX broadcast, to keep the TV-14 rating, the defecation featured in the movie are censored. In addition, two scenes involving nudity is blurred out.
• Connections Featured in Late Night with Seth Meyers: Andy Samberg/Kevin Love/M. Night Shyamalan/Abe Laboriel Jr. (2015)
• Soundtracks Possession Written by Harry Revel Performed by Les Baxter and His Orchestra and Chorus [Theremin - Dr. Samuel Hoffman ] Courtesy of RCA Records By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

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• kimbg-909-818076
• Nov 8, 2015
• September 11, 2015 (United States)
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• Untitled Blumhouse Horror 1
• 3049 Merlin Road, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, USA (Exterior House)
• Blinding Edge Pictures
• Blumhouse Productions
• Neighborhood Film Co.
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $5,000,000 (estimated)
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Biden visits Baltimore to assess bridge collapse damage

By Tori B. Powell and Michael Williams, CNN

Biden pledges federal support and offers condolences during his Baltimore visit. Here's what you should know

From CNN's Donald Judd

During a visit to the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse site on Friday, President Joe Biden pledged federal support for the recovery effort while offering his condolences to the families of six workers killed when a container ship collided with the bridge last week.

“To all our military members and first responders and most importantly, the people of Maryland. I'm here to say your nation has your back, and I mean it — your nation has your back,” Biden said, amid the backdrop of the collapsed bridge. “The damage is devastating, and our hearts are still breaking. Eight, eight construction workers went into the water when the bridge fell, six lost their lives. Most were immigrants, but all were Marylanders —hard-working strong and selfless.”

Here's what you should know about his visit:

• Biden expresses grief : Biden drew from his own experience with loss — as he often has in the wake of tragedies — telling the families of those killed, “I've come here to grieve with you—we all are.” He went on to say,  “It's not the same, but I know a little bit about what it's like to lose a piece of your soul to get that phone call late at night saying family members are gone—I’ve been there." The president continued: “I’ll also never forget the contributions these men made to this city — we're going to keep working hard to recover each of them."
• Operational update: He offered an operational update on recovery efforts, including federal efforts to minimize supply chain disruption, noting that two channels have already been cleared for small commercial vessels with a third channel projected to be opened by the end of the month, “and by the end of May, we'll open the full channel.” 
• Rebuilding the bridge: He vowed to "move heaven and earth to rebuild this bridge as rapidly as humanly possible" and said that those responsible for the bridge collapse would be held accountable "to the fullest extent the law will allow." He also took the opportunity to call on Congress to pass funding to rebuild the bridge and reiterated that the federal government would fully foot the bill. 

Referencing "The Star-Spangled Banner," Biden says Baltimore will make it through another "perilous fight"

From CNN's Michael Williams

President Joe Biden on Friday referenced a portion of the US national anthem — written by the namesake of the Francis Scott Key Bridge — to say that Baltimore will make it through the challenges presented by the bridge's collapse.

"This port is older than our republic. It's been through tough, tough times before," the president said.

Key wrote the poem that eventually became "The Star-Spangled Banner" while watching a British assault on the harbor during the War of 1812.

"As the dawn broke," the president said, "we saw the American flag still flying. Baltimore was still standing, and our nation, as he wrote in 'The Star-Spangled Banner,' had made it through a "perilous fight."

"Folks," Biden added. "That's going to take time. ... We're determined to come back even stronger."

Biden says he hopes "full channel" into Baltimore port will reopen in May

President Joe Biden on Friday said he hopes the channel closed off by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge last week will be reopened by May.

"So far, our team has been able to clear two small channels for essential ships, helping clear the wreckage," Biden said.

A third channel for some commercial traffic — including car carriers, which used Baltimore as a crucial port for US imports — should be opened by the end of this month, Biden said.

"By the end of May, we'll open the full channel," he said.

More context: The US Army Corps of Engineers announced Thursday it plans to fully reopen the channel leading to the Baltimore port by the end of May. While the dangerous work of clearing the channel to the Port of Baltimore continues, the US Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District said it plans to open a “ limited access channel ” that will be about 280 feet wide by the end of April.

Biden uses his own experience of loss to empathize with relatives of 6 killed in Key Bridge collapse

President Joe Biden on Friday referred to his own experience of loss while referencing the families of the six construction workers who were killed when the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed last week.

"I've been there," said Biden, who lost his wife and daughter in a car crash in 1972 and his son, Beau, to brain cancer in 2015.

"The anger, the pain, the depth of loss is so profound," he added, noting that one day the memory of a loved one "is going to bring a smile to your lips before it brings a tear to your eye."

Biden is expected to meet with some of the relatives of those killed on the bridge after his remarks conclude.

"Your nation has your back," Biden says in Baltimore remarks

President Joe Biden told Baltimore the country has its back as the city recovers from last Tuesday's collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

"I'm here to say your nation has your back," Biden said in Baltimore, after receiving an operational briefing from local officials. He repeated: "Your nation has your back."

Biden receives operational briefing on bridge collapse response

From Donald Judd 

On President Joe Biden's first stop in Baltimore, he was briefed by Brigadier Gen. John Lloyd, who commands the North Atlantic Division for the US Army Corps of Engineers, on recovery efforts around the Key Bridge collapse to open the channel.

“You gave us the priority to open the federal channel again and get the port of Baltimore operational—what I can tell you sir, is I am extremely confident we are going to make that happen,” Lloyd told Biden. “And why do I say that? Two reasons—first, the mobilization of people and the equipment.”

Lloyd outlined challenges facing the team, noting as he’s visited the site, there is “a lot of bridge resting on that vessel,” which will require engineers to cut the vessel and lift it out of the channel. Still, he said, “the cooperation is fantastic—the best I’ve ever seen,” offering special praise for Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.

“The governor is a former army guy too, Mr. President, so it makes it easy to work with him,” Lloyd said, prompting Biden to joke, “This guy’s got guns as big as my thigh.”

Biden was then briefed on rebuilding efforts before hearing from Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg on the federal response. Buttigieg said the department has supported Maryland in four main areas: "Help them get the port back open, deal with the supply chain applications in the meantime, helping get the bridge back up and deal with the surface traffic implications.”

The transportation secretary touted $60 million in emergency relief to the region “within hours of it coming in.” He also pledged "that is a down payment, and just the beginning, but as more requests come in, we'll make sure that we can turn them around right away too."

The group is now moving to the banks of the river for Biden’s remarks.

Here's why Baltimore will likely withstand the economic effects of the bridge collapse

From CNN's Bryan Mena

As the local community begins the difficult work needed to return to some sense of normality after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed, experts say that, at the very least, the local economy will likely withstand the effects of the bridge’s collapse.

The collapse will indeed have some economic impact, but it will likely be limited.

Here’s a snapshot of Baltimore’s regional economy and why it’ll be likely spared from an economic disaster:

• Low unemployment: The Baltimore metropolitan area, which encompasses the nearby cities of Columbia and Towson, registered a low 2.8% unemployment rate in January, according to Labor Department data. That’s well below the national rate of 3.9% in February and ranks 43rd out of 389 regions across the country with more than one million residents. It’s lower than in other eastern US cities such as Boston, Orlando, and Atlanta and the same as Washington D.C.’s.
• Low inflation: The US economy is still dealing with high inflation, but that’s not much of a problem for the Baltimore metro. Consumer prices in the region were up just 1.7% in February from a year earlier, according to the latest Consumer Price Index data. That’s much lower than  the national rate of 3.2% that month  and ranks among the lowest of the 23 metro areas with more than 2.5 million residents for which the Labor Department publishes inflation data, according to a CNN analysis.
• Decent housing market: Baltimore’s housing market is relatively decent. The median price for a home in the Baltimore metro was $383,900 in the fourth quarter of 2023,  according to the National Association of Realtors.  That’s just   slightly below the national median price, which was $384,500 in February, NAR reported last month.

Biden will receive an aerial tour of the bridge destruction

From CNN's Nikki Carvajal

President Joe Biden will see federal response efforts firsthand and receive an aerial tour of the damage caused by the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore during his visit to the city Friday, a White House official said.

“President Biden will travel to Baltimore where he will receive an operational update on response efforts from the Unified Command, including the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers on assistance to state officials in surveying and removing the wreckage in the channel and allowing the Port of Baltimore to reopen as soon as humanly possible,” the official said in a statement released Thursday night.

Biden will also meet with the loved ones of the six construction workers killed when the bridge collapsed last week, the official added.

The president will be joined by:

• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore
• Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen
• Maryland Rep. Kweisi Mfume
• Mayor Brandon Scott
• Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski
• Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg
• US Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan
• Lt. Gen. Scott Spellmon, chief engineer of the Army Corps of Engineers.

Major US bridges could be vulnerable to ship collisions, including one just downstream from Key Bridge

From CNN's Casey Tolan, Isabelle Chapman, Curt Devine and Yahya Abou-Ghazala

Before its disastrous collapse last week, the Francis Scott Key Bridge served as an economically crucial gateway: Thousands of container ships crossing from the Atlantic to Baltimore’s port passed under the bridge’s decades-old span.

But the now-ruined structure isn’t the only bridge along that same key shipping route: Twenty miles downstream, massive container ships headed to Baltimore also pass under the Chesapeake Bay Bridge near Annapolis.

And according to experts who reviewed its design for CNN, it could also be at risk of collapse if one of those vessels rammed into it.

Several of the 4-mile-long Bay Bridge’s concrete piers, which sit in the middle of the shipping channel, appear vulnerable to the type of ship collision that destroyed the Key Bridge, experts said.

The bridge is “lacking in safety measures,” said Adel ElSafty, an engineering professor at the University of North Florida, who said the structure should be reassessed in light of the Key Bridge collapse. “It could very much be vulnerable to a ship impact.”

CNN reviewed the protective design features of more than a dozen major US bridges that cross shipping channels leading to the biggest ports in the country.

Most have stronger defenses against ship collisions than the Key Bridge had, such as more robust fender systems or larger concrete structures designed to deflect oncoming vessels, according to statements from local officials and interviews with more than a half-dozen structural engineering experts.

But a handful of other bridges, including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, have less significant defenses, according to experts – potentially placing them at risk as increasingly large container ships pass under them.

Read more about what other US bridges are facing.

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Former N.J. officer alleges department had ticket quota, says he faced retaliation and discrimination from police chief

William Pepe says the problems had existed for at least a year when the chief of police ordered Pepe into his office to scold him for not writing enough traffic tickets. Pepe, who was the Pompton Lakes Police Department’s only Black officer at the time, said the meeting was part of a pattern of disparate treatment he endured on the job and at the hands of Chief Derek Clark.

It is one of several allegations Pepe, 41, made in a legal notice announcing that he intends to sue the borough, its council and police department, alleging that his career trajectory “came to a grinding halt” after he expressed concerns to his union about his supervisors’ conduct. Pepe alleges he was subjected to a hostile and retaliatory work environment that led to “work-related mental health issues” and culminated in his “constructive termination,” which occurs when an employer’s conduct effectively forces an employee to resign.

“The race and disability discrimination and harassment were so severe, and the ongoing retaliation was so intense, that he had no option but to quit,” his attorney said in the legal filing, known as a notice of tort claim.

Pepe, who under New Jersey law has to wait six months after sending the notice to file the suit, plans to seek at least $2.5 million in damages.

The police department, which has 24 officers, said it had no comment about the allegations in the claim.

Erik DeLine, president of the borough council, said: “Beyond the fact the claims are entirely false and that the Borough will vigorously defend itself and its officers, I have no further comment.”

Pepe, who is an Army veteran, joined the department in 2015 and was promoted to the detective bureau four years later, he said in an interview and in the notice of tort claim. He was also assigned to the narcotics task force at the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office and was a firearms instructor for the police department.

But he alleges that he was reassigned to the patrol division in 2021 in retaliation for saying that he wanted to file a grievance with the department’s union because he had twice been “forced” to stay home from work for an extended period and to use sick days when his son was sick, even though both had tested negative for Covid-19.

Lt. Anthony Rodriguez, whom Pepe described as Clark’s “right hand man,” tried to discourage him from filing a grievance at a union meeting in the spring of 2021, Pepe said. Then an “extremely aggressive and intimidating” Clark warned him the department would fight the grievance.

“Browbeaten and fearful of retaliation,” the notice says, Pepe decided against filing the grievance. He was reassigned to the less prestigious patrol post a month later.

Clark and Rodriguez said they had no comment about the allegations in Pepe’s notice.

Pepe said Clark forced him to disclose what was supposed to be a confidential conversation with the department’s resiliency program officer about his mental state after the demotion. According to Pepe, Clark later warned other officers that they could be disciplined if they had similar conversations with the officer, who is a confidential resource with whom officers can discuss professional or personal matters.

Clark also lectured him about writing too few tickets on patrol, Pepe alleges, and threatened to put him on a performance improvement plan. According to Pepe, Clark and Rodriguez repeatedly told him that the mayor and borough council were unhappy with the department’s ticket numbers and that if they did not improve, the council may “mess with your healthcare” during contract negotiations. He said in the legal notice that officers who wrote fewer tickets did not receive the same dressing down and warning.

On another occasion, he received a written reprimand for giving away department property after he said he gave the Velcro badge from his uniform to a 4-year-old boy whose mother told Pepe the boy wanted to be a police officer. The badge can be purchased by anyone at a police uniform store, Pepe and the notice of tort claim said.

He said in an interview that he believes the retribution was partly motivated by race. Pepe said he was the department’s only Black officer when he resigned and only the second Black officer in its history.

Pompton Lakes has a population of roughly 11,000 and is about 30 miles from Manhattan. About 84% of its residents are white, and less than 1% are Black or African American.

“Policing has ultimately come down to if you’re a part of the good old boys club,” he said. “That’s what it really comes down to. It’s not about the public anymore. They’re putting their own interests first, before everybody else, and they’ll do whatever they’ve got to do, just like they did to me, to get a guy out.”

The constant harassment and “barrage of indignities” wore on Pepe and began to affect his personal life, the notice of tort claim says. He later failed a fitness for duty test and was required to complete inpatient treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder in first responders and veterans. While on leave, he learned that he was the subject of five internal investigations for various violations of department policy, all of which he disputes.

When he returned to work after treatment and a separate surgery, according to the notice, he requested a “light duty assignment” and was offered a position in night dispatch.

“Claimant’s dispatch work assignment was another clear indication of disparate treatment and further retaliation,” according to the tort claim. “Specifically, between September 2022 through February 2023, four other officers (all of whom were white, and none of whom had angered Chief Clark due to their union advocacy) were fully accommodated and placed on true light duty. They were assigned to do ‘busy work’ in the Department during the day shift.”

None of the white officers was required to work the overnight dispatch shift, “which was extremely busy and mentally taxing,” according to the tort notice.

Pepe submitted his resignation in January.

“At that point, I felt so pressured and I felt just so beaten down by the process that it’s like, there’s nothing I can do,” he said.

Janelle Griffith is a national reporter for NBC News focusing on issues of race and policing.

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Trump on Trial

Jack smith gets a bit of what he wanted.

The judge in the documents case rejected for now Donald Trump’s central argument to escape prosecution.

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By Alan Feuer and Maggie Haberman

In the 10 months that she has overseen Donald Trump’s classified documents case, Judge Aileen Cannon has issued a raft of curious decisions and entertained claims from the defense that many federal judges would have rejected out of hand. She’s also allowed a pileup of unresolved legal issues to grow so thick that it’s threatening to delay any trial from taking place until after the election in November.

This week, the special counsel Jack Smith signaled he’d had enough .

In an unusual display of frustration, Smith wrote in a court filing on Tuesday night that one of Cannon’s recent orders wasn’t merely slowing down the case, but was based on “a fundamentally flawed legal premise” — not the sort of thing you typically hear a prosecutor saying to a judge.

Smith laid out his own solution to the problem he believed that Cannon had created: The judge, he said, should issue a ruling on one of Trump’s most brazen defenses in the case, and she should do so quickly, affording prosecutors the chance to appeal if she decides against them.

Today, Cannon gave Smith a bit of what he had asked for — but not everything.

She issued a ruling , just like he’d requested, rejecting Trump’s attempt to escape prosecution by arguing that he had converted the highly sensitive records he took from the White House into his own personal property. But she didn’t kill the argument altogether, suggesting that she might allow something similar to be raised in front of the jury during trial.

The dispute, while specific to the classified documents prosecution, points to the broader ways in which Trump’s lawyers have managed to gum up his criminal cases, including those in Washington and Georgia based on similar charges of plotting to subvert the 2020 election.

His legal team has repeatedly thrown sand into the gears of the proceedings, grinding them to all but a halt with endless waves of motions, many of them bordering on frivolous.

Trump’s team privately has been open about the strategy of delay, delay, delay — and it has been so successful in fact that, at this point, it is possible that only one of Trump’s four trials will go in front of a jury before voters go to the polls. That would be his trial in Manhattan on charges of covering up a sex scandal surrounding his 2016 presidential campaign, which is set to start on April 15.

Personal property

From the start, Trump’s attempt to use a law known as the Presidential Records Act to lay personal claim to highly classified papers was a stretch.

The assertion is dubious on its face given that the statute was put in place after the Watergate scandal not so that presidents could unilaterally designate government documents as their own personal property, but for the opposite reason: to ensure that most remained in the possession of the government. In an earlier part of the classified documents case, the appeals court that sits over Cannon said that Trump “neither owns nor has a personal interest in” the documents at issue.

Even Cannon herself balked at the idea last month at a hearing in Florida, telling Trump’s lawyers that their interpretation would effectively “gut” the Presidential Records Act. But then, within days of the hearing, she suddenly seemed to reverse herself, ordering the defense and prosecution to send her proposed jury instructions that suggested she was still open to embracing the defense.

What she wanted from both sides was language designed to help potential jurors understand how the Presidential Records Act might affect the central allegation in the case: that Trump had taken “unauthorized possession” of the documents he removed from the White House.

The order was unusual for a number of reasons, not least because jury instructions are typically hashed out on the eve of trial and Cannon hasn’t even set a trial date yet despite the fact both sides have said they could be ready for one by summer.

But it was even stranger because by appearing to remain open to Trump’s position on the Presidential Records Acts, Cannon seemed to be willing to consider nudging any eventual jurors toward finding him not guilty. Her order left open another possibility: that she herself might acquit the former president near the end of the trial by summarily declaring that the government had failed to prove its case.

‘Pure fiction’

Hoping to avoid either of those pitfalls, Smith responded to the order by telling Cannon that the Presidential Records Act had absolutely no relevance to the case and that the defense Trump had based on it was “pure fiction” created “out of whole cloth” and “untethered to any facts.” Smith also said that Cannon’s own plan to receive jury instructions based on the act was completely wrong headed and rested on a “fundamentally flawed legal premise.”

What he wanted was for Cannon to decide the validity of the Presidential Records Act defense in a different way: by rejecting Trump’s motion to dismiss the case based on the same argument.

And today, she did just that. But while her order rejected Trump’s attempts to kill the case with a Presidential Records Act defense, it suggested that the conversation about how the act might show up during the trial itself would continue.

Cannon, in fact, chided Smith for wanting to end the discussion about jury instructions “prior to the presentation of trial defenses and evidence,” calling that request “unprecedented and unjust.”

She also defended her decision to ask both sides for their dueling takes on jury instructions.

Her request, she wrote, should be interpreted as “a genuine attempt, in the context of the upcoming trial, to better understand the parties’ competing positions and the questions to be submitted to the jury in this complex case of first impression.”

In other words, it may not be the last we hear about the Presidential Records Act.

Your questions

We’re asking readers what they’d like to know about the Trump cases: the charges, the procedure, the important players or anything else. You can send us your question by filling out this form.

What is the penalty if Trump violates the gag order? — Gabriel Portuondo, East Hampton, New York.

Alan: Trump is facing gag orders in both his Manhattan-based trial on charges of covering up a sex scandal surrounding his 2016 campaign and in Washington where he stands accused of plotting to subvert the 2020 election. And the most likely penalty that would be imposed on him if he violates either one would be monetary fines. It is possible, but very unlikely, that either judge would put him in jail.

Where does each criminal case stand?

Trump is at the center of at least four separate criminal investigations, at both the state and federal levels, into matters related to his business and political careers. Here is where each case currently stands .

What to watch next week

Jack Smith is expected to file his brief next week to the Supreme Court challenging Trump’s attempts to defend himself against charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election with a claim of executive immunity.

More Trump coverage

Catch and kill: Here’s what an editor at The National Enquirer saw during the rise of Trump .

All in: Todd Blanche, Trump’s main defense lawyer, is betting his professional future on representing the former president. His former colleagues are baffled by his choice .

Fraud case: The New York attorney general said that the company that provided Trump’s $175 million bond was not qualified to do such deals in New York .

The church of Trump: Infusing Christianity into his movement, Trump is ending his rallies by invoking an evangelical altar call . In a video, our colleague Michael Bender explains why.

Stock market debut : Investors have so far lost tens of millions of dollars betting against Trump’s social media company.

Thanks for reading the Trump on Trial newsletter. See you next time — Alan and Maggie.

Read past editions of the newsletter here.

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Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.  More about Alan Feuer

Maggie Haberman is a senior political correspondent reporting on the 2024 presidential campaign, down ballot races across the country and the investigations into former President Donald J. Trump. More about Maggie Haberman