Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses

Past perfect simple

We use the past perfect simple to talk about an earlier past: events which happened before the
main event.
Earlier single events 
We use the past perfect simple to talk about earlier events and experiences, or single
actions completed earlier in the past.

 When she opened the door, he had  already left.  

 I realised that I had been there before. 

 When I met her, I  had never been in a serious relationship. 

 He noticed I had cleaned the car. It was smooth and shiny. 

We use the past perfect simple (and not continuous) to say how much or how many we
had done of something earlier in the past.

 We  had driven 500 miles and we needed some rest. 

 How many hours had he slept when you woke him up?

 Duration from earlier in the past (stative verbs)

 We use the past perfect simple with stative verbs to talk about states or situations that had
started earlier in the past. We often use how long, for or since, always, etc.

 The day Anne died, they  had been married for 48 years. 

 The day I left, I  had been in England for exactly 4 years. 

 She told me she had always hated her sister. 

 Past perfect continuous

 Duration from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

 We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about longer continuous
actions that started earlier in the past than the main events of the story.

 I was very angry. I had been waiting for him in the cold, and he didn’t call to say
he’d be late. 
  We  had been driving for less than an hour when the car broke down. 

 Repeated actions from earlier in the past (dynamic verbs)

 We use the past perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about repeated actions from
earlier in the past.

 I couldn’t believe it. She had been writing  a letter every day for over a year. 

Exercise 1: Fill in the blanks with past perfect simple or past perfect continuous tenses.

1. By the time they got to the theatre the play _______________ (already start).

2. When he got to the finish line he _______________ (run) for three hours.

3. By the time they left town the mechanic _______________ (repair) the car.

4. Joe _______________ (brush) his teeth by the time he went out.

5. After they _______________ (open) the door they saw that the room was a complete
mess.

6. We _______________ (work) in the garden for a long time when we found the hole.

7. When the storm _______________ (stop) we could finally leave the house.

8. The football fans _______________ (cause) trouble for some time before the police
arrived.

9. When the teacher finally came in the boys _______________ (fight) for ten minutes.

10. When Tommy finally came the girls _______________ (sing) for a few hours.

11. They burst into laughter after they _______________ (hear) the good news.

12. When the policeman rushed into the street, the thieves _______________ (already
disappear).

Exercise 2: Choose the correct tense.

1. I told John not to drive, because he _____ all night.

a. drank b. was drinking c. had drunk d. had been
drinking
2. Why did you change the channel? I ______ that movie.
a. watched b. was watching c. had watched d. had been watching
 3. When I _____ out of the shower the lights _____.
a. got/were getting off b. had got/were getting off
c. was getting/went off d. had been getting/had got off
4. When I saw Clara, I realised that she ______ much in all those years.
a. didn’t change b. wasn’t changing
c. hadn’t changed d. hadn’t been changing
5. When he entered the room, somebody _____ him in the head.
a. hit b. was hitting c. had hit d. had been hitting
6. He admitted that he ______ all the money from the box.
a. took b. was taking c. had taken d. had been taking
7. The burglar _____ to open the safe when he _____ the owner come in.
a. was trying/heard b. tried/heard
c. had been trying/had heard d. tried/was hearing
8. I knew he _____ because his eyes were red.
a. cried b. was crying c. had cried d. had been crying
9. The plane in which the football team _____ crashed and none of them survived.
a. travelled b. were travelling c. had travelled d. had been travelling
10. We _____ for about 20 minutes when the plane was hit by turbulence.
a. flew b. were flying c. had flewn d. had been flying

Exercise 3: Fill in the gaps with the most appropriate narrative tenses of the verbs in
brackets: past simple, past continuous, past perfect simple or past perfect continuous.

We thought that we were on the right path when suddenly we 1   (run into) a very

familiar rock and 2   (realise) that we 3   (walk) in circles for quite a long

time. We 4   (be) totally lost, and the fact that we 5   (already/finish) our
water provisions wasn't very promising.

We 6   (decide) to go uphill because according to John, it would be easier to spot a

way out from an elevated point. He 7   (learn) that from a documentary

he 8   (see) about survival. But what the documentary 9   (not teach) John

was that maybe it’s not such a good idea to go up a mountain when you are exhausted and
waterless.
We 10   (trek) one mile when we 11   (start) to have a horrible feeling that

that might be our last trek. Of course, we 12   (say) anything, but we could see in

each other’s eyes that at that precise moment we 13   (think) precisely the same. We

couldn't walk any longer, so we 14   (decide) to sit and rest, quietly, because neither
of us wanted to share any of our gloomy thoughts.

"Hello, can I help you?" we suddenly 15   (hear). We 16   (raise) our heads

and 17   (see) a little man with slanted eyes and a childish grin. He 18   

(stand) right next to us. I wondered where he 19   (come) from and how long

he 20   (stand) there. But it didn't matter really, because we were safe.

Adapted by S.Ç.B. June 2021, from: https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/narrative-tenses/

Adapted by S.Ç.B. June 2021, from: https://www.english-grammar.at/online_exercises/tenses/t109-past-
perfect.htm
Adapted by S.Ç.B. June 2021, from: https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/narrative-tenses/
Adapted by S.Ç.B. June 2021, from: https://test-english.com/grammar-points/b1-b2/narrative-tenses/3/
Answer Key 9. b
10. d
Exercise 1
Exercise 3
1. Had already started
2. Had been running 1. ran into
3. Had repaired 2. realized
4. Had brushed 3. had been walking
5. Had opened 4. were
6. Had been working 5. had already finished
7. Had stopped 6. decided
8. Had been causing 7. had learned/had learnt
9. Had been fighting 8. had seen
10. Had been singing 9. hadn’t taught
11. Had heard 10. had trekked
12. Had already disappeared 11. started
12. didn’t say
Exercise 2
13. were thinking
1. d 14. decided
2. b 15. heard
3. c 16. raised
4. c 17. saw
5. a 18. was standing
6. c 19. had come
7. a 20. had been standing
8. d