Ever since I was a boy, I've wanted to graduate from college. My family worked hard, but nobody went to college. My father worked as an event coordinator and would plan the local graduation ceremony every year. THAT ROLE WAS THE CLOSEST HE'D EVER GOTTEN TO A COLLEGE GRADUATION. I worked hard and earned a full-ride scholarship to any state college. You can imagine how excited my family was for me on my graduation day!

Question

What verb tense and aspect are used in the capitalized sentence?

simple present
simple past
past perfect
past progressive

Answer 1

The capitalized sentence "THAT ROLE WAS THE CLOSEST HE'D EVER GOTTEN TO A COLLEGE GRADUATION" uses the past perfect tense.

In this sentence:

• "WAS" is the simple past form of the verb "to be," but it is used to describe a state in the past.
• "HE'D EVER GOTTEN" is the contraction of "he had ever gotten," which is in the past perfect tense.

So, the combination reflects past perfect context as it discusses a completed action that relates to the past.