past perfect simple in relative clauses

Let’s analyse a real expert example of the past perfect simple in a relative clause to give background information:

This is a 23-year-old woman who had come in by ambulance.

Listen to our example sentence. 

We can write two sentences meaning the same thing:

• This is a 23-year-old woman. (main clause and topic)
• She had come in by ambulance. (extra background information about the woman.  Notice: ‘She’ is replaced with the relative pronoun ‘who’)
• *Usually the past perfect makes it clear that something happened before something else happened in the past.  However, our first clause uses the present tense: ‘This is’ probably because it would sound strange to say ‘this was a woman’ which might suggest she is dead or not a woman now.

In the English Grammar Profile at B2, Point 77 in the category of PAST is defined as:

past perfect simple in relative clauses to give background information.

A search in iWeb for who|that|which had _vvn gives us:

The most common past participles found in past perfect relative clauses:

1 WHO HAD COME 7745
2 WHO HAD TAKEN 5753
3 WHO HAD WORKED 5373
4 WHO HAD DIED 5142
5 WHO HAD MADE 4712
6 WHO HAD LOST 4373
7 WHO HAD GONE 3907
8 THAT HAD HAPPENED 3888
9 WHO HAD SERVED 3609
10 WHO HAD RECEIVED 3596
11 THAT HAD COME 3547
12 WHO HAD BECOME 3400
13 WHO HAD SEEN 3340
14 WHO HAD LIVED 3120
15 THAT HAD GONE 2900
16 THAT HAD TAKEN 2845
17 THAT HAD BECOME 2761
18 WHO HAD SPENT 2713
19 WHO HAD GIVEN 2642
20 WHO HAD LEFT 2626
21 WHO HAD SUFFERED 2318

WHICH HAD BECOME

  BBC News

I was doing a piece on the second series of Dinnerladies, which had become a big hit.

23 THAT HAD FALLEN 2151
24 THAT HAD MADE 2088
25 WHO HAD FALLEN 2029
26 WHO HAD WON 1954
27 WHO HAD MOVED 1922
28 WHO HAD PLAYED 1846
29 WHO HAD HELPED 1827

WHO HAD EXPERIENCED

  RACGP

Dr Tam recently diagnosed cancer in a patient who had experienced delays in testing.

31 WHO HAD FLED 1744
32 THAT HAD OCCURRED 1705
33 WHO HAD USED 1703
34 WHO HAD FOUGHT 1592
35 WHO HAD JOINED 1459
36 WHO HAD ARRIVED 1427
37 WHO HAD PASSED 1402
38 WHO HAD STARTED 1378
39 WHO HAD WRITTEN 1371
40 WHO HAD HEARD 1370
41 WHO HAD BROUGHT 1368
42 WHO HAD TRIED 1356
43 WHO HAD GROWN 1314
44 WHO HAD GATHERED 1302
45 WHO HAD KNOWN 1268
46 WHO HAD COMMITTED 1264

WHICH HAD TAKEN

  The Guardian

Hitler shot himself on 30 April 1945, avoiding capture by Russian forces which had taken Berlin, and therefore punishment for his crimes.

48 THAT HAD BEGUN 1234
49 WHICH HAD COME 1209
50 WHO HAD ATTENDED 1166
51 WHO HAD LED 1165
52 WHO HAD UNDERGONE 1161
53 THAT HAD GROWN 1125
54 WHO HAD BOUGHT 1123

THAT HAD LED

   Fox Sports

Fevola said it was that publicity that had led to her being nominated.

56 WHO HAD RETURNED 1091
57 WHO HAD FOUND 1069
58 WHO HAD COMPLETED 1059
59 THAT HAD PASSED 1054
60 WHO HAD MARRIED 1054
61 WHO HAD STUDIED 1050
62 WHO HAD ESCAPED 1016
63 WHO HAD TURNED 990
64 WHO HAD FAILED 950
65 WHO HAD KILLED 949
66 WHO HAD RUN 949
67 WHO HAD TRAVELLED 934
68 THAT HAD SEEN 926
69 WHICH HAD FALLEN 921
70 WHO HAD PURCHASED 921
71 THAT HAD CAUSED 918
72 THAT HAD BROUGHT 903
73 THAT HAD STARTED 902
74 WHO HAD SURVIVED 900
75 WHO HAD ENTERED 897
76 WHO HAD VISITED 889
77 WHICH HAD MADE 884
78 WHO HAD PUT 876
79 WHICH HAD BEGUN 873
80 THAT HAD DEVELOPED 862
81 WHO HAD SIGNED 857
82 THAT HAD LOST 847
83 WHO HAD BUILT 835
84 WHO HAD CALLED 835
85 WHO HAD GOTTEN 834
86 WHO HAD READ 826
87 WHO HAD ASKED 813
88 WHO HAD SET 813
89 WHO HAD PAID 806
90 WHO HAD SUPPORTED 803
91 WHO HAD TRAVELED 802
92 WHO HAD HELD 800
93 WHO HAD PARTICIPATED 794
94 WHO HAD REMAINED 777
95 WHO HAD FOLLOWED 773
96 WHO HAD DEVELOPED 760
97 WHICH HAD LED 746
98 WHO HAD BEGUN 735
99 THAT HAD EXISTED 728
100 WHO HAD SETTLED 725

B1 vocabulary:

attended, developed, escaped, existed, experienced, fought, led, remained, signed, supported