third form of verb sleep and use of had

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by Jen@VeritasPrep » Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:34 am
It's not! :)

"had slept" is the correct past perfect form of the verb "sleep." The past perfect tense is formed by the word had plus the past participle. Sometimes, this past participle corresponds with the simple past tense form:

I walked. I had walked.
I slept. I had slept.

In other situations, the past participle differs from the simple past tense form:

I knew. I had known.
I went. I had gone.

Logically, we use this tense to indicate an event that happened BEFORE another event in the past. We could use "I had slept" in the following sentence:

I had slept for only two hours before my alarm clock woke me up.

Hope that helps!
Jen Rugani
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www.veritasprep.com

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by rachygoel » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:37 am
Hi Jen,

That really helps........... I knew it sounded right but did not know the logic behind it. Thanks :)

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by tomada » Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:21 pm
Then there's the infamous "I have slept", as in "I have slept a total of 8 hours over the past 3 days".
I'm really old, but I'll never be too old to become more educated.

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by mundasingh123 » Wed Aug 04, 2010 1:37 am
tomada wrote:Then there's the infamous "I have slept", as in "I have slept a total of 8 hours over the past 3 days".
I dont think "i have slept" is right as the person who said this is now awake and his sleep has been broken

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