Past Perfect

A. Study this example situation:

Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too but they didn't see each other. Paul went home at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11 o'clock. So:

When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn't there. He had gone home.

Had gone is the past perfect (simple):

I/we/they/you or he/she/it had (= I'd etc./he'd etc.) gone/seen/finished etc.

The past perfect simple is had + past participle (gone/seen/finished etc.).

* When Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.

* When we got home last night, we found that somebody had broken into the flat.

* Karen didn't want to come to the cinema with us because she had already seen the film.

* At first I thought I'd done the right thing, but I soon realized that I'd made a serious mistake.

* The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. He hadn't flown before. /He had never flown before.

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EXERCISES

Ex.1 Read the situations and write sentences from the words in brackets.

1. You went to Jill's house but she wasn't there. (she/go/out) She had gone out.

2. You went back to your home town after many years. It wasn't the same as before.

(it/change/a lot)

3. I invited Rachel to the party but she couldn't come.

(she/arrange/to do something else)

4. You went to the cinema last night. You arrived at the cinema late.

(the film/already/begin)

5. I was very pleased to see him again after such a long time.

(I/not/see/him for five years)

6. I offered Sue something to eat but she wasn't hungry.

(she/just/have/breakfast)

Ex.2 Read the situations and write sentences ending with before. Use the verb given in brackets.

1. The man on the plane was very nervous. It was his first flight.

(fly) He had never flown before. OR He hadn't flown before.

2. A woman walked into the room. I didn’t know her.

(see) I _______ before

3. Simon played tennis yesterday. He wasn't very good at it because it was his first game.

(play) He _________

4. Last year we went to Denmark. It was our first time there. (be) We _______

Ex.3 Put the verb into the correct form, past perfect (I had done etc.) or past simple (I did etc.).

1. 'Was Tom at the party when you arrived? ' 'No, he had gone (go) home.'

2. I felt very tire when I got home, so I --- (go) straight to bed.

3. The house was very quiet when I got home. Everybody --- (go) to bed.

4. Sorry I'm late. The car --- (break) down on my way here.

5. We were driving along the road when we --- (see) a car which. --- (break) down, so we --- (stop) to see if we could help.

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