有一次，跟陈仁祯老师探讨英语句子的时态问题，感觉很有意义。起因是一个英语句子She had been a beauty in her day. （译为：她年轻时是个美人。in one’s day的意思是“在某人特定的最佳时期”，本句译为“年轻时”为佳。）这个句子见诸报刊、教辅、课件和网络，都是作为例句出现的。根据这个句子的特点，我们猜测应该是选自国外权威的英语大词典。我们查阅了许多词典，结果也没有找到出处。
但意外之喜的是，陈老师从词典上查到了不少类似的句子。现列举如下：
Her mother had been dead for ten years. 她的母亲去世10年了。——摘自《朗文当代英语辞典》(2003年第4版)
I had been denying this anger for years. 这股怒火我已压抑多年了。——摘自《麦克米伦英汉双解词典》）
The dog had been poisoned. 狗已被毒死。——摘自《美国传统英汉双解学习词典》
The door had been locked from the inside. 门从里面锁住了。——摘自《剑桥中阶英汉双解词典》
There had been a complete breakdown of trust and confidence. 信用和信心曾经一度完全崩溃。——摘自《麦克米伦高阶美语词典》
The water had been tainted with a deadly toxin. 这水被致命毒素污染过。——摘自《朗文当代英语辞典》(2003年第4版)
I had not seen him at least ten years. 我至少10年没有见到他了。(Cronin)
……
跟She had been a beauty in her day.的时态一样，以上例句也全部使用了“过去完成时”，而且每个例句都是一个孤立的句子（简单句）。
经过一番讨论之后，我们达成共识：上述例句使用“过去完成时”，是不正确的，应改为“一般过去时”，或补充相应的上下文背景。
对于过去完成时，有些人在理解上存在误区，误认为“它是指过去完成的动作”。我们说，字面意思不等于概念，“过去完成时”的本质不是“过去完成”，而是“过去的过去”，是过去两个动作（状态）或两个时间先后的对比和观照。一个句子，离开了这两个大前提，语法上是不允许使用过去完成时的。
有人可能要问：难道国外的英语权威词典错了吗？
我们知道，现在许多英语词典的例句都来自语料库，而语料语库的“语料”在没有被收录进语料库之前，它们都是有上下文的，但一旦进入语料库，它们就脱离了原来的上下文，这对于一般的句子来说原则上是没有关系的，但对那些使用“过去完成时”的句子来说，关系就大了。因为没有上下文，就无法体现“过去的过去”这样的背景，这样也就没有了用过去完成时的基础，但编词典的人在选用例句时，更多是考虑所对应词条的有关用法，而忽略了句子使用过去完成时所必须具备的上下文语境，这不能不说是一个小小的失误！
大家是否还记得，《牛津英语大辞典》(Oxford English Dictionary)是如何编篡的吗？
作为《牛津英语辞典》(Oxford English Dictionary) 的编篡者，詹姆斯·默雷要编辑一部在英语语言史上最具规模的大字典。它将包括每一个可能出现的英语单词，不仅给出定义，而且还要给出该词的历史和引文出处，说明它是如何使用的。面对如此挑战，默雷不得不招募志愿者，他们来自英国、美国和英国的殖民地，搜集所有用英语写的报刊杂志和书籍。显而易见的是，词典的绝大部分例句是出自这些材料。可以想见，有许多的例句是选自英美文学作品。
She had been a beauty in her day. 有可能是来自某一部文学名著：讲的是一位年轻美貌的少女，随着年龄的增长和种种原因，已青春不再，美丽逝去。She had been a beauty in her day. 是描写她“过去的过去”。这个句子使用了过去完成时，是有条件的，它有上下文和语境，有对照和比较。如果孤立地引用这个句子作为例句，那么，必须把过去完成时改为一般过去式，否则就是错误的句子。
关于《牛津英语辞典》(Oxford English Dictionary)的编辑故事，有文为证：
One of the greatest contributions to the first Oxford English Dictionary was also one of its most unusual. In 1879, Oxford University in England asked Prof. James Murray to serve as editor for what was to be the most ambitious dictionary in the history of the English language. It would include every English word possible and would give not only the definition but also the history of the word and quotations (引文) showing how it was used.
This was a huge task. So Murrary had to find volunteers from Britain, the United States, and the British colonies to search every newspaper, magazine, and book ever written in English. Hundreds of volunteers responded, including William Chester Minor. Dr. Minor was an American Surgeon who had served in the Civil War and was now living in England. He gave his address as “Broadmoor, Crowthorne, Berkshire,” 50 miles from Oxford.
Minor joined the army of volunteers sending words and quotations to Murray. Over the next years, he became one of the staff’s most valued contributors.
But he was also a mystery. In spite of many invitations, he would always decline to visit Oxford. So in 1897, Murray finally decided to travel to Crowthorne himself. When he arrived, he found Minor locked in a book-lined cell at the Broadmoor Asylum for the Criminally insane.
Murray and Minor became friends, sharing their love of words. Minor continued contributing to the dictionary, sending in more than 10,000 submissions in 20 years. Murray continued to visit Minor regularly, sometimes taking walks with him around the asylum grounds.
In 1910, Minor left Broadmoor for an asylum in his native America. Murray was at the port to wave goodbye to his remarkable friend.
Minor died in 1920, seven years before the first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary was completed. The 12 volumes defined 414,825 words, and thousands of them were contributions from a very scholarly and devoted asylum patient.
下面，我们有必要重温一下“过去完成时”的用法：
过去完成时表示“过去的过去”，有两重意思：①表示在过去某一时间或某一动作之前已经发生的动作；②表示由过去某一时间开始，延续到过去另一时间的动作。可图示为：
(1) 表示过去某一时间之前已经完成的动作
表示在过去某一时刻或动作之前已完成的动作，即“过去的过去”。这个过去的时刻常用by, before等介词短语或时间状语从句来表示，也可以从一个表示过去的动作或上下文中得到提示。
She had learned English before she came to Britain. 她在来英国以前已学过英文了。
By the end of last month, we had finished half of the project. 到上个月底为止，我们已经完成了一半的工程。
She said she had lost her purse on her way to the station. 她说她在去火车站的路上丢了钱包。
The children ran away because they had broken the window. 孩子们跑掉了，因为他们打破了玻璃。
【特别注意】
在含有时间状语从句的复合句中，若两个动作紧接着发生，则可以不需要用过去完成时，尤其是在含有before与after的复合句中。
I closed the window before I left the room.我在离开房间之前关上了窗。
He came in, closed the door behind him and sat down at the desk.（三个动作先后关系非常明显，在先的动作不需要用过去完成时）
常与过去完成时连用的时间状语有：
by the end of last week 到上周末为止
since he left 自他离开以来
by that time 到那时为止
long before 很久以前
(2) 表示动作的持续性
过去完成时可以表示从过去某一时间开始一直延续到过去另一时间的动作或状态。常与by，for或since构成的时间状语连用。
He had been ill for a week when he was sent to hospital. 当他被送进医院就医时，已经病了一个星期了。
By 8:00 p.m. she had worked for twelve hours. 到晚上8点钟，她已经工作12个小时了。
My elder sister had worked in the company for ten years before she changed her job. 在换工作之前，我姐姐已经在那家公司工作了10年。
在以下固定句式中，虽然两个动作几乎同时发生，但主句使用过去完成时，仍然表明动作在先。
在hardly/scarcely...when..., no sooner...than...句式中，主句常用过去完成时，表示“一……就……”。
I had hardly left the room when the telephone rang.我刚刚离开房间电话就响了。
No sooner had she arrived than she devoted herself to her research. 她一到达就投身于她的研究。
Scarcely had the sick baby seen the nurse when she began to cry. 那个生病的小孩一看见护士就大哭起来。
【用法比较】
过去完成时与现在完成时的比较：
过去完成时与现在完成时都跟表示一段时间的状语连用，如：for a week，for two years，for a long time等，但现在完成时表示的，是延续到现在或同现在有关的动作（句中不能有明确表示过去时间的状语），而过去完成时表示的，是在过去某时间之前已经完成或延续到过去某时间的动作（句中有表示过去某特定时间的状语）。如：
①She had been ill for a week before she came back. 她在回来之前就生病一个星期了。（到过去某时间）
She has been ill for a week. 她生病一个星期了。（到现在仍生病）
②Everything had gone well up to that time.直到那时，一切都很顺利。（到过去某时间）
Everything has gone well up to now.直到现在，一切都很顺利。（到现在为止）
请仔细阅读下列语篇，留意加粗的蓝色词的时态。为什么此句用了过去完成时，而彼句则用了一般过去时?
My friend, Andrew, had lived in a foreign country for many years before he returned to England . He had often dreamed of retiring in England and had planned to settle down in the countryside. He had no sooner returned than he bought a house and went to live there. Almost immediately he began to complain about the weather, for it was often bitterly cold. After so many years of sunshine, Andrew got a shock. He acted as if he had never lived in England before. In the end, it was more than he could bear. He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the countryside. The dream he had had for so many years ended there. Andrew made a big mistake because he had thought of everything except the weather.
我们以该语篇为例，进一步分析过去完成时的用法和含义：
首句My friend, Andrew, had lived in a foreign country for many years before he returned to England. 我朋友安德鲁在回到英国之前，已在国外生活了多年。显然，had lived 要早于returned.
He had often dreamed of retiring in England and had planned to settle down in the countryside. 在这句话中，had dreamed和had planned这两个动作的参照物也是returned, 都早于returned.
在He had no sooner returned than he bought a house and went to live there.句子中， “had no sooner +过去分词+than +一般过去时”这是一个常用句型。had returned跟bought似乎是同时发生，但也有先后，根据时态一看便知。
He acted as if he had never lived in England before.句中，had never lived属于虚拟语气。He had hardly had time to settle down when he sold the house and left the countryside.也是一个类似的句型。
在The dream he had had for so many years ended there.这个句子中，had had也有参照物ended, 梦想在先，结束在后。
最后一句Andrew made a big mistake because he had thought of everything except the weather. 不用说也明白，因果关系谁先谁后。所以，在because引导的原因从句中，其动作一定是早于主句中的动作的。
【考考你】
1. Tom was disappointed that most of the guests______ when he ______at the party.
A. left; had arrived B. left; arrived
C. had left; had arrived D. had left; arrived
2. By the time he was twenty, he ______ five novels.
A. wrote B. had written
C. has written D. was writing
3. How many English songs ______ by the end of last term?
A. did you learn B. have you learnt
C. would you learn D. had you learnt
4. As soon as the sun ______, we returned to our hotel.
A. had set B. have set
C. set D. was setting
5. How long ______ in the south before he came here?
A. did Brown live B. was Brown living
C. had Brown lived D. would Brown live
6. When he ______ his lunch he asked for a glass of water.
A. finished B. had finished
C. was finishing D. has finished
7. I ______ the problem until the teacher explained it.
A. didn’t understand B. haven’t understood
C. hadn’t understood D. wasn’t understanding
8. They ______ home when it began to rain.
A. had hardly got B. had no sooner got
C. would get D. was getting
9. The children ran away because they ______ the window.
A. broke B. have broken
C. had broken D. would break
10. The flood destroyed the bridge which ______ by the villagers.
A. was built B. had been built
C. has been built D. was to be built
【答案】1-5 DBDAC 6-10 BCACB