When telling a story in the past timeA concept which is related to our perception of reality; that part of existence which is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, etc., if an eventA general term expressing that somebody or something does something or that something happens. E.g.: An apple fell on Isaac’s head. quickly follows another, these adverbA part of speech that modifies verbs, adjectives, adverbs and conjunctions. E.g.: I could hardly utter a word. ("hardly")ials and partial inversion is used to express the first event. In the invertA structure in which a verb or an auxiliary precedes the subject. E.g.: "Here comes the sun."ed clauseA group of related words containing a subject and a verb. usually past perfectThe aspect expressing completion. E.g.: He’s finished university. is used. With no sooner … than, however, we can also use simple past.

We use the past perfect tenseA grammatical category that is marked by verb inflection. To express when an event or action happens in time or when a state exists, we use tenses. to express that an eventA general term expressing that somebody or something does something or that something happens. E.g.: An apple fell on Isaac’s head. took place before another event in the past, that is, it had been completeA concept, related to the perfect aspect, expressing that an action has finished. E.g.: He’s finished university.d. This tense allows us to keep track of the order of the events if this is not clear otherwise.

If + subjectThe person or thing that performs the action of a verb or that is described by a verb. E.g.: Andy has never been to Brunei. ("Andy") + auxiliaryA helping verb used with main verbs to express mood, voice and tense. E.g.: I can't stand when I am disturbed. ("can", "am") can be replaced in formalNot belonging to colloquial or everyday speech; official. E.g.: I demand that Mr Smith call the person on whom the committee has decided. English, or for dramatic effect, by the inversionA structure in which a verb or an auxiliary precedes the subject. E.g.: "Here comes the sun." of the auxiliary and the subject, with the if omitted.