Past Perfect

Task 1 Read the rules of Past Perfect and make up your own examples.

Past Perfect is formed: had + 3rd form of the verb

had gone
hadn’t gone

Past Perfect is used:

a. for a past action which happened before another past action or before a stated past time
- e.g.
b. for a complete action
- e.g.
c. as the past equivalent of Present Perfect
- e.g.

Time expressions used with Past Perfect

before, after, just, yet, already, for, since, ever, never, till/until, when by, by the time, etc.

e.g.

Task 2 Complete the sentences using the words in brackets. You will need to add articles, prepositions etc .

1. Louise wasn’t hungry because she ……………………………………………………

(have / big lunch / vegetarian restaurant downtown)
2. I didn’t know who she was because I ……………………………………………….
(not meet / she / before)
3. The police arrived because somebody ………………………………………………..............
(rob / local bank)
4. John couldn’t come to the classes yesterday because he ………………………….......
(break / his leg / skiing accident)
5. Laura didn’t want to go to the cinema because she ………………………………………………………………....
(see / the film / before)

Task 3 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in the past perfect or the past simple tense.

1. Unfortunatelly, when we arrrived at Samanta’s birthday party, all the guests …………………………. home so we did not
meet anybody. (go)
2. I didn’t take a map with me so obviously I ……………………………….. in London. (get lost)
3. I was really supprised when I heard that Steven ………………………….. his exams. (fail)
4. Marvin returned to his home town after 15 years and he could not believe how much it ……………………………(change)
5. I did not get any reply to my email so I ……………………………….. to phone them. (decide)
6. I drank too much at the party and that’s why I …………………… this terrible hangover the next day. (have)
7. I woke up almost half an hour late because I ……………………….. to set my alarm clock. (forget)

Task 4 Put the verbs in brackets into Past Perfect or Past Simple

After Jim and Terry _____________ (finish) their breakfast, they _____________ (take) their bags and _____________
(go) to the river to fish. They _____________ (go) there before and _____________ (catch) some big fish. By 5 o’clock
they _____________ (not/get) any fish, so they decided to go home. They _____________ (promise) their mother to
bring fish for dinner, so they _____________ ( look) for a shop where they could buy some but the shops
_____________ (already/close). When they _____________ (arrive) home, they _____________ (tell) their mother that
they _____________ (catch) the biggest fish they _____________ (ever/see) but it v (escape).

Task 5 Read the story and put in the missing verbs from the box.
Became Gave Make Reached
Caught Got Make sure Set out
Could Had finished Met Slept
Decided Had left Misread Understand
Drove Hitchhiking Missed Welcomed
Explained Know Persuade Were sent
Found Lost Put Woke up
The Longest Day
This story happened a few years ago when British people could go on a day trip to France without a passport. It is about
a Mrs and Mrs. Elham who went on a day trip to Boulogne.
When they _____________ their shopping, the couple _____________ for a walk to see the sights of the town.
Unfortunately, they didn’t _____________ much French and couldn’t really _____________ the street signs, so they
 Past Perfect

_____________ completely lost. The French people they _____________ were very kind and eventually they
_____________ a lift to the railway station.
As the last ferry _____________, the Elhams _____________ to go to Paris and _____________ their way back to Dover
from there. Unfortunately, they _____________ the wrong train and _____________ themselves the next morning – in
Luxembourg! The local police _____________ (the confused passengers on a train for Paris and they _____________
most of the way – all too soundly in fact, for they _____________ their connection and _____________ in Basel in
Switzerland!
The obliging Swiss police _____________ the couple directions back to Boulaogne but somehow the y_____________
their way again and ended up _____________ over sixty kilometers to Vesoul in central France. A long-distance lorry
dirver gave the confused couple a lift to Paris, but when they _____________ the Gare du Nord, their troubles were not
over.
‘We _____________ the signs,’ Mrs. Elham _____________ ‘and took the train to Bonn in Germany.’
From Germany the Elhams _____________ quickly back to France. At the border, a sympathetic gendarme decided to
_____________ they got to Boulogne safely, so he _____________ them all the way there.
As they didn’t have passports, it took twenty-four hours to _____________ the Customs that their unreal story
_____________ possibly be true. But at last they were allowed on a ferry and soon the familiar white cliffs of Dover
_____________ the Elhams back to England.

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