ĐỌC VIẾT 3 | READ WRITE 3

1.2 Grammar Skill:

Past perfect and past perfect continuous

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 OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to use past perfect and past perfect continuous
correctly.
 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Order of events in the past

The past perfect shows that one event happened before another event in the past. The
past perfect expresses the earlier event. The simple past is often used to express the later
event. The past perfect often gives background information about events or situations. It
has the same form for all subjects: subject + had (+not) + past participle.

earlier event later event

Every morning, no matter how late he had gone to bed, my father rose at 5:30.
past perfect simple past

later event earlier event

I got the job because I had lived in China for several years.
simple past past perfect
 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Past perfect with past time clauses

The past perfect is often used in sentences with past time clauses. A past time clause
usually begins with a subordinator such as when, until, or by the time. Notice the use of a
comma when the past time clause comes first.
past time clause main clause

When I had dried the cups, we put them back on the shelves.
subordinator past simple past
perfect
main clause past time clause

I had not noticed the man until he spoke to me.

past perfect subordinator simple
past

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 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Past perfect continuous

The past perfect continuous is used for actions that began in the past and continued up
to another past event or state in the past. It is often used with for to indicate how long a
situation lasted. Like the past perfect, it often gives background information. The past
perfect continuous is had + been + verb + -ing.

I had been living there for six months when the Smiths moved next door.

She had been writing stories for many years when her first story was published.

When she finally arrived, he'd been waiting for her for two hours.
 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Practice A. Read the sentences. Underline the past perfect and past perfect
continuous verbs and circle the simple past verbs in each example. Label the verbs
1 for the earlier event and 2 for the later event.
2

1. My mother had a collection of very small china cups and saucers.

1
She had collected them throughout her life. 2
1
2. I had only washed a few when the beautiful blue and white cup slipped from my small hands.
2
1
3. I had forgotten to call my brother, so he was angry with me. 2
1
4. She had thought seriously about studying medicine, but in the end she decided to study business.
2 1
5. Until he got an internship at a big ad agency, he hadn't been interested in working in advertising.
 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Practice A. Read the sentences. Underline the past perfect and past perfect
continuous verbs and circle the simple past verbs in each example. Label the verbs
1 for the earlier event and 2 for the later event.
2
1
6. I didn't answer the man because I hadn't heard him clearly. 2
1
7. We had been working on the project for hours when we finally finished it.

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 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Practice B. Combine the sentences using the time expression indicated. Change the
simple past verb to the past perfect or past perfect continuous for the event that
happened first. The sentences are in the order that they happened.

1. I offered to pay for lunch. I realized that I didn't have any money. (when)
When I had offered to pay for lunch, I realized that I didn’t have any money.

2. I did not leave my home country. I visited Canada. (until)

I hadn’t left my home country until I visited Canada.

3. He already finished reading the book. He watched the DVD. (when)

He watched the DVD when he had already finished reading the book.
 Past perfect and past perfect continuous
Practice B. Combine the sentences using the time expression indicated. Change the
simple past verb to the past perfect or past perfect continuous for the event that
happened first. The sentences are in the order that they happened.

4. They recalled important events from their past. The students wrote stories about their
memories of childhood. (after)
The students wrote stories about their memories of childhood after they had recalled
important events from their past.

5. I had lunch. She arrived at the restaurant. (by the time)

I had had lunch by the time she arrived at the restaurant.

6. She was studying English. She moved to the United States. (when)
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