Unit 7: Career changes
Past perfect tense
Select a unit
- 1 Pop-ups
- 2 Hidden talents
- 3 Can't buy me love
- 4 Travellers' tales
- 5 The colleague from hell
- 6 Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7 Career changes
- 8 Art
- 9 Project management
- 10 The dog ate my homework!
- 11 The diary of a double agent
- 12 Fashion forward
- 13 Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14 Extreme sports
- 15 Food fads
- 16 Me, my selfie and I
- 17 Endangered animals
- 18 A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19 I'm really sorry...
- 20 Telling stories
- 21 Fakes and phrasals
- 22 Looking to the future
- 23 Becoming familiar with things
- 24 From rags to riches
- 25 Against the odds
- 26 Our future on Mars?
- 27 Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28 Dodgy dating
- 29 Annoying advice
- 30 I'll have been studying English for thirty weeks
Session 2
Time to learn a useful tense for telling stories – the past perfect tense. In fact, you could say it's perfect for stories! We've got two quizzes to test you, and then it's time for 6 Minute Grammar.
Activity 2
Perfect forms
The plane had already left...
Now it's time to test your knowledge of the past perfect form. As we said, we use the past perfect tense to show which past event happened first. The past event that happened second is usually in the past simple.
- By the time I got to the airport, the plane had already left.
Complete the activity
To do
Read the sentences. Choose the correct options to complete them using the past perfect... or not! Good luck.
Feel the form
6 Questions
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
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Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
ፍንጭ
Which auxiliary does the past perfect take? Check the grammar box if you need to!Question 1 of 6
ድጋፍ
Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
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You need the past participle hereQuestion 2 of 6
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Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
ፍንጭ
Be careful with your contractionsQuestion 3 of 6
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Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
ፍንጭ
What is the correct negative contraction? The full form is 'had not brought'.Question 4 of 6
ድጋፍ
Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
ፍንጭ
This question is testing the other tense that we often use with the past perfect.Question 5 of 6
ድጋፍ
Activity
Time to test your knowledge of the past perfect. The first five questions are on 'form', and the final one is on 'use'. Good luck!
ፍንጭ
We don't need the past perfect just because we're talking about a long time ago in the pastQuestion 6 of 6
Excellent! Great job! መጥፎ እድል ነጥብ አስመዝግበዋል :
Next
It's time for Rob and Catherine to guide you through grammar land. Listen to their summary of all these points in 6 Minute Grammar!
የሰዋሰው ክፍለ ጊዜ
Past perfect: meaning and use
When we're talking about two events in the past, we use the past perfect to say which happened first
Form
The past perfect is made with subject + had/hadn’t + past participle
Positive
- When my parents got to the station, they realised they had left the tickets at home
Negative
- Kerry couldn’t leave work on time because she hadn’t written the report
Question
- Had you finished your homework before the movie started?