Hello Dr. Jill, what are you thinking about today? I was thinking about storytelling, describing actions that were completed before another action in the past. I see.
You had already planned this lesson before I called you. You want to discuss the past perfect. That's right. I planned the lesson because I knew you were watching soccer games all night long.
Me never. Go, go, go! The past perfect has the form had plus past participle. Right.
The name itself points to an important idea about verbs in English. Aspect. Aspect generally refers to whether an action takes place before another action or event. It can also suggest whether an action has been completed or not.
So the past perfect refers to an action that took place in the past as a time before another action. When you said you had already planned this lesson before I called, you noted correctly that I had completed the action of planning the lesson before you called.
We often use the adverb already with the past perfect. You can also use still, just, ever or never with the past perfect. Like I had just started my lunch when you called. So please let me get back to it.