Unit 7: Career changes
Past perfect tense
Select a unit
- 1Pop-ups
- 2Hidden talents
- 3Can't buy me love
- 4Travellers' tales
- 5The colleague from hell
- 6Jurassic mystery: unpacking the past
- 7Career changes
- 8Art
- 9Project management
- 10The dog ate my homework!
- 11The diary of a double agent
- 12Fashion forward
- 13Flat pack skyscrapers
- 14Extreme sports
- 15Food fads
- 16Me, my selfie and I
- 17Endangered animals
- 18A nip and a tuck: cosmetic surgery
- 19I'm really sorry...
- 20Telling stories
- 21Fakes and phrasals
- 22Looking to the future
- 23Becoming familiar with things
- 24From rags to riches
- 25Against the odds
- 26Our future on Mars?
- 27Where is it illegal to get a fish drunk?
- 28Dodgy dating
- 29Annoying advice
- 30I'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!
Help
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!
Hint
Which auxiliary does the past perfect take? Check the grammar box if you need to!Question 1 of 6
Help
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!
Hint
You need the past participle hereQuestion 2 of 6
Help
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!
Hint
Be careful with your contractionsQuestion 3 of 6
Help
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!
Hint
What is the correct negative contraction? The full form is 'had not brought'.Question 4 of 6
Help
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!
Hint
This question is testing the other tense that we often use with the past perfect.Question 5 of 6
Help
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!
Hint
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!Bad luck!You scored:
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!
Session Grammar
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 leftthe 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?
