Past tense and past perfect in essays?

Question

I'm writing an essay (fiction) in past tense.

• He went. She slept. I said. etc.

How do I correctly express activity before the time of action ?

• He went home. But before that he had eaten a sandwich.
• He went home. But before that he has been eating a sandwich.
• I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I had have.
• I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I have had.

Which one is correct ? Are both correct ? Do they express the same thing or something different ? Explanation ? Technical terms ?

Answer 1

"He went home. But before that he had eaten a sandwich." - the most technically correct answer - you use past perfect tense in its intended purpose.

"He went home. But before that he *has been eating a sandwich." - incorrect by the grammar rules, and I don't think present perfect continuous tense is very common in casual speech in this case. I'd use past perfect continuous ("...he had been eating a sandwich").

"I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I *had have." - I think the tense is right (past perfect again), but you got the past participle wrong - it should be "...I had had".

"I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I *have had." - see the second case.

In general, it's also acceptable to use Simple Past in place of Past Perfect if the order of the events is clear - so "He went home. But before that, he ate a sandwich" and "I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I had" would also be correct.

Answer 2

• He went home. But before that he had eaten a sandwich.
• He went home. But before that he has been eating a sandwich.

The first one is more correct, but I believe that it would be better to write

• He went home. But before that he ate a sandwich.

This is past tense.

• I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I had have.
• I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I have had.

None of these are correct. The correct would be:

• I lay in my bed and remembered the last dream I had had.

because you need past tense (first had) for the past tense of your verb (second had).

Answer 3

If you want to correctly express the first activity you can express it in one sentence by using the past perfect tense

He went home when he had eaten a sandwich. OR When he had eaten a sandwich, he went home.

Past perfect continuous tense should normally be used for actions of longer duration like - had been living/ working/ studying.