Past perfect

Study this picture

Now:

• When did Sarah Arrive?

• When did Paul leave?

• Did Sarah find him when she arrived?

• What happened first and what came the second?

Timeline :

presentPast perfect past Future

SarahPaul

When she arrived at the party, Paul had already left,

Therefore ! The pastperfect is the past of the past !!

Now,Try to give the rule :

• We use past perfect to talk about an eventthat happened…..

in the past before anotheraction happened in the past

Forms :• Affirmative :• I you/she/he/it/we/they had + past participle.• Example:• I had washed my clothes before she came.• Negative:• I you/she/he/it/we/they had + not+ past participle.• Example:• I hadn’t pepared lunch yet when she came in.• Interrogative:• Had you/she/he/it/we/they + past participle ?• Example: • Had she pepared lunch when her neighbour came in?

Adverbs with The past Perfect :

For example up to now would be used with the present perfect, but with the past perfect we would use up to then.

• Inspecified time: already, before, ever, never, once, twice, yet:

Ex: I saw that he had filled the bag already.

• Something Has just happen : just, recently and lately:

I was worried about Grandpa - he had just gone outside in the rain.

• Unlike the present perfect, in he past perfect we use : Up to then .

Ricky had been a very good student up to then.

• Habits or recurrent events: “ for” and “since”. “For” is used to refer to a period of time in the past and “since” to a point of time in the past:

She said Grandpa had smoked two cigarettes every evening for the past fifty years.[here we focus on the period = 50 years]

She said Grandpa had smoked two cigarettes every evening since he was a boy.[here we focus on the point when he started to smoke]

Exercise 1Make positive Past Perfect sentences

• When I arrived to the cinema the film ………………………. (start)

• When I arrived to the cinema the film had started.

• She ………………………. (live) in China before she went to Thailand.

• she had lived in China before she went to Thailand.

• If you ……………………… (listen) to me, you would have got the job.

• If you had listend to me, you would have got the job.

• We were late for the plane because we ……………. (forget) our passports.

• We were late for the plane because we had forgotten our passports.

• She told me she ………………….. (study) a lot before the exam.

• She told me she had studied a lot before the exam.

Exercise 2Make Negative Past Perfect sentences

• The children ……….. (not/do) their homework, so they were in trouble.

• The children hadn’t done their homework, so they were in trouble.

• We couldn’t go into the concert because we ……. (not/bring) our tickets.

• We couldn’t go into the concert because we hadn’t brought our tickets.

• She said that she ………….. (not/visit) the UK before.

• She said that she hadn’t visited the UK before.

• He …………. (not/use) email before, so I showed him how to use it.

• He hadn’t used email before, so I showed him how to use it.

• You ……………..(not/study) for the test, so you were very nervous.

• You hadn’t studied for the test, so you were very nervous.

Exercise 1Make Interrogative Past Perfect sentences

• ………….(she/see) the film already?

• Had she seen the film already?

• ………………….(it/be) cold all week?

• Had it been cold all week?

• ……….(John/meet) Lucy before they worked together?

• Had John met Lucy before they worked together?

• What ………………. (you/cook) for dinner that night?

• What had you cooked for dinner that night?

• How many coffees………….. (she/drink) before the interview?

• How many coffees had she drunk before the interview?

Make sentences from the chart

Past perfect continuous

Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining but the ground was very

wet.

It was not raining when I looked out of the window; the sun was shining. But it had been raining before. That's why the ground was wet.

You should say then :

It had been raining

It is an action that took sometime in the past.

1- Subject

2- Had /not

3- Been

4- Verb + ing

Some more examples:

• The boy came into the house with his clothes dirty. He'd been playing.

• I was very tired when I arrived home. I'd been working hard all day.

Time line :

NowPastPast P continuous

A continuing action in the past that ends ata certain point in the past

Note that presentperfect is an action that started in the past but it ends in the present

Exercises :

Read the situations and make sentences from the words in brackets.

1 I was very tired when I arrived home.

(I / work / hard all day) ..... I had been working hard all day.

2 The two boys came into the house. They had a football and they were both very tired.

(they/play/football)........................................................................................................................................

3 There was nobody in the room but there was a smell of cigarettes.

(somebody / smoke / in the room) ................................................................................................................

4 Ann woke up in the middle of the night. She was frightened and didn't know where she was. (she/ dream) ........................................................................................................................................................

5 When I got home, Mike was sitting in front of the TV. He had just turned it off.

(he/watch/TV) ...............................................................................................................................................

2. Read the situations and complete the sentences.

1 We played tennis yesterday. Half an hour after we began playing, it started to rain.

=> We had been playing for half an hour when it started to rain

2 I had arranged to meet Tom in a restaurant. I arrived and waited for him. After 20 minutes I suddenly realized that I was in the wrong restaurant. I............................................................................ for 20 minutes when I.......................................................

3 Sarah got a job in a factory. Five years later the factory closed down.

At the time the factory ............................................................................. Sarah ..................................................................... there for five years.

4 I went to a concert last week. The orchestra began playing. After about ten minutes a man in the audience suddenly began shouting.

The orchestra .................................................................................................................. when ..................................................for more than 24 hours.

5 This time make your own sentence:

I began walking along the road when........................................................................

...........................................................................

• past continuous (I was doing), past perfect (I had done) or past perfect continuous (I had been doing).

Exapmle : It was very noisy next door. Our neighbours were having ( have) a party.

We were good friends. We ....had known... (know) each other for a long time.

1. John and I went for a walk. I had difficulty keeping up with him because he ................................................... (walk) so fast.

2. Mary was sitting on the ground. She was out of breath.

She ...................................................(run).

4. When I arrived, everybody was sitting round the table with their mouths full.

They ..................................................(eat).

4. When I arrived, everybody was sitting round the table and talking. Their mouths were empty but their stomachs were full.

They ................................................... (eat).

6. Jim was on his hands and knees on the floor.

He ................................................... (look) for his glasses.

7. When I arrived, Kate ................................................... (wait) for me. She was rather annoyed with me because I was late and she ................................................... (wait) for a very long time.

8. I was sad when I sold my car.

I................................................... (have) it for a very long time.

9. We were extremely tired at the end of the journey.

We ........................................... (travel)

Thanks for watching

I hope you like !

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