Life Intermediate Unit 3b

Past perfect: Time expressions

This month’s winning photo:

Before I went to Tierra del Fuego, I’d travelled all

over the world and I’d seen all kinds of incredible
sights. But this was definitely more impressive than
anything else I’d ever seen. I’d never been so close to
an iceberg before. I took this photo just as it started
to turn. I hadn’t realized how big it was until then.
The side that had previously been underwater came
to the top. It was a beautiful deep blue.
Roberto F. (Buenos Aires)

Presentation
Use the past perfect to talk about an action that Past perfect and past simple
happened before a certain time in the past: You often use the past perfect and the past simple
Before I went to Tierra del Fuego, I’d travelled all around together. Use the past simple to talk about the most
the world. I’d been to Japan, Mexico and Kenya. recent past action. Use the past perfect to talk about
actions and situations that happened before a certain
time time in the past:
Japan Mexico Kenya Tierra I hadn’t realised how big it was until it turned over.
del The side that had previously been underwater came to
Fuego the top.
Time expressions
You can also use the past perfect to talk about an action
that did not happen before the given time in the past: The past perfect is often used with the following
adverbs to emphasise the fact that the action happened
I’d never been so close to an iceberg before.
earlier: already, just, recently, before, previously, earlier.
Affirmative and negative • Already, just and recently come between had and the
I / You / He / ’d (had) seen an iceberg past participle.
She / It / They hadn’t (had not) before. He had just come back from Laos. I had recently sold
my car.
Yes/No questions
• Before comes at the end of the sentence. In negative
Had I / you / he / she / it / they seen an iceberg sentences it is often used with never.
before?
I’d been to Argentina many times before. I had never
Short answers seen anything like it before.

Yes I / you / he / she / it / they had.

No I / you / he / she / it / they hadn’t (had not).

TIP Don’t confuse the contracted forms of had (’d) and

would (’d):
I’d seen an iceberg. (I had seen an iceberg.)
I’d like to see an iceberg. (I would like to see an iceberg.)

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Life Intermediate Unit 5a
Present perfect and past simple 1: ever, never

I’ve never skied Wow! I haven’t seen that

Have you ever been before. This is This is the first time I’ve
before. It’s beautiful.
to Paris? terrifying! flown. It’s so exciting!
When did you get it?

Yes, I have.
I went last year,
with Maddy.

Presentation
Use the present perfect to talk about your experiences – You also use the present perfect with not / never … before:
the things you’ve done, and haven’t done, in your life. I haven’t been here before. I’ve never skied before.
Form the present perfect with have / has 1 past participle. You use the present perfect and not the present simple
Past participle with the first / second / third time.
Say This is the first time I’ve ridden a bike. (don’t say
With regular verbs, add -ed: ski → skied
This is the first time I ride a bike.)
Some verbs are irregular: see → seen, fly → flown
Present perfect and past simple
See page 235: irregular verb list
Use the present perfect to talk about experiences in
Affirmative and negative general. You do not say when it happened.
’ve (have) Have you been to Paris? ( 5 at any time in your life)
I / You / We / They
haven’t (have not) ?  ?   ?   ? now
visited Paris.
’s (has) time
He / She / It
hasn’t (has not) You were
born
Questions
You often use the past simple after present perfect
How many have I / you / we / they
visited? questions to give information about specific events and
countries has he / she / it times in the past.
Have I / you / we / they Yes, I have. I went last year, with my friend Maddy.
visited Paris?
Has he / she / it I went
to Paris now
Short answers time

Yes, I / you / we / No, I / you / we / haven’t. last year

have.
they they
been
Yes, he / she / it has. No, he / she / it hasn’t.
When you are talking about experiences, you often use
ever / never been as the past participle for go.
You often use the present perfect with ever and never: Say I’ve been to Paris three times. (don’t say I’ve gone to
Have you ever driven a jeep? (ever 5 in your life) Paris three times.)
I’ve never been to India. (never 5 not in my whole life) See Unit 24 for more information about been and gone.

Practical Grammar 2 1 © National Geographic Learning

Life Intermediate Unit 5b
Present perfect 3: for and since

He’s worked
here for over fifty-
five years.

Presentation
You use the present perfect with how long, for and since to talk about an action or a situation that
started in the past and continues in the present.
He’s worked here for over fifty-five years. (He started working here fifty-five years ago – he still works here.)
I haven’t played tennis since I left school.
How long have you known Steve?
You do not use the present simple. (don’t say He works here for over fifty-five years.)
for and since
You use for to talk about a period of time:
He’s worked here for fifty-five years / a long time.
You use since with the point in time when the action started:

now
time He’s worked here for thirty-five years.
for 35 years

now
time
He’s worked here since he left school.
since he left school

TIP You use the past simple in time expressions with since:
He’s worked for his father since he left school.
I’ve made a lot of friends since I moved here.
I’ve known Jim since I was a child.

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Life Upper Intermediate Unit 3b
Future continuous, future perfect, future perfect continuous

At the end of this month, This time tonight, Just two more hours to go
I’ll have been working here I’ll be celebrating and I’ll have finished the
for 35 years! It’s time I retired! with my friends! last exam of my whole life!

Next week, I’ll be

lying in the sun …

Presentation
Future continuous
Use will be 1 ing to talk about an action that you know
or think will be in progress at a certain point in time,
or during a certain period of time, in the future.
This time tonight, I’ll be celebrating with my friends!
(5 point in time)
Next week, I’ll be lying in the sun. (5 period of time)
Future perfect simple
Use will have 1 past participle to talk about an action
that is going to be completed at or before a given time
in the future.
Just two more hours to go and, I’ll have finished the last
exam of my whole life!
TIP  Youoften use the future perfect simple with
expressions using by:
I’ll have finished all my exams by the end of the week.
I’ll have finished work by five o’clock.
Future perfect continuous
Use will have been 1 -ing to talk about an action that is
going to be in progress at some time before and/or until
a given time in the future. It emphasises the fact that the
action will take place over an extended period of time.
At the end of this month, I’ll have been working here for
35 years!
By ten o’clock tomorrow, we’ll have been travelling for
24 hours.
See page 236: Summary of future forms

Future continuous Future perfect Future perfect continuous

I’ll be studying for my exams all
weekend.
I won’t be going out at all.
What will you be studying?
We’ll have finished the exam by 12 p.m.
We won’t have finished until 12 p.m.
Will you have finished by 12 p.m.?
We’ll have been doing exams all week.
We won’t have been doing exams all
week.
Will you have been doing exams all
week?

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 Upper Intermediate Unit 3b
Exercises

1a  Complete the text using the future continuous form of the verb in brackets. Then listen
and check.
1 Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen. This is flight LH344 from Berlin to
New York’s John F Kennedy airport. We 1 'll be taking (take) off shortly
so please fasten your seatbelts.
2 We 2 'll be flying (fly) at a speed of 885 kilometres per hour and at a
height of over 10,000 metres. We 3 'll be landing (land) in New York
in about ten hours, so sit back and enjoy the flight.
3 In a few minutes, our staff 4 will be serving (serve) a hot lunch. After lunch,
we 5 'll be starting (start) our duty-free service when we 6 'll be selling
(sell) perfumes and other gift items.

1b  Complete the text using the future perfect simple form of the verbs
in brackets.
By this time next week, we 1 'll have crossed (cross) the whole of
Australia. We 2 'll have driven (drive) more than 2,000 miles, we
3 'll have sleep (sleep) under the stars, we 4 'll have seen
(see) the sun set over Uluru, we 5 'll have visited (visit) the famous
town of Alice Springs, and we 6 'll have arrived (arrive) at our final
destination – Darwin – on the tropical north coast.

1c  Complete the dialogue using the future perfect continuous form

of the verbs in brackets.
A: When we’ve finished our exams, we’ll be exhausted. We 1've been working
(work) really hard for weeks. We 2 'll haven't getting(not/get) enough sleep,
we 3 'll haven't eating (not/eat) properly …
B: Yes, but just think how you’ll be feeling afterwards. You’ll be a new person!

2 Choose the correct form of the verb.

1 A: Will you be in the office tomorrow?
B: I’ll be travelling / have travelled all day,
but you can call me on my mobile.
2 A: I promise you we’ll be finishing /
have finished it by midday tomorrow.
B: I should hope so. You’ll be working /
have been working on it for over a week!
3 A: How long have you been here? A year
and a half?
B: No, longer. We’ll be living / have been living
here for three years in May.
4 A: Will you be seeing / have seen Patricia this
afternoon?
B: No, sorry. I won’t be going / have gone to
the sports centre this afternoon.

3 Complete these sentences so that they are true for you.

1 This time tomorrow, I’ll be .
2 By this time next week, I’ll have .
3 By the end of the weekend, I’ll be feeling because I’ll have been .

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