He had come yesterday.
Is this sentence OK or not?
Please comment. Thanks.
No because you said “yesterday.”
Usually, when you mention a point in time (in the past), you just use the Past Simple: “He came yesterday.”
“He had come.” (without yesterday) means that he came before some other time in the past. For example:
[color=darkblue]My best friend lives far away, so we don’t get to see each other very often. I was so happy when I got home from school yesterday. He had come! When I got there, he was talking to my parents.
“I got home” is in the [color=green]Past Simple because I mentioned “yesterday.”
He had come! is in the [color=green]Past Perfect because it means that he came at some point in time before I came home. (Maybe I don’t know exactly when he came. I just know it was before I got home.)
“he was talking” is in the [color=green]Past Continuous because that action was still going (not finished) when I got home.
If you need help practicing the different forms of verb tenses, you can download my iPhone/iPod/iPad app: “English Verb Master!”
Unfortunately, this will only test you on the form, not the meaning.
“I came here when I had been a child.”
Is this sentence grammatically OK?
Allifathima,
Your sentence is incorrect.
I (often) came here when I was a child. Or, I used to come here when I was a child.
The specific past-time reference is “when I was a child”
The_Arbitrageur
Usually, when you mention a point in time (in the past), you just use the Past Simple.
I would recommend you check some more basic grammar before breaking your head with the past perfect.
Regards,
Ozzy