Basic English III- Past perfect

Past perfect

by Geovanna Navarrete Romero

Multiple Choice

What do you think the Past perfect is used for?

• for actions or events that happened in the past before another action or event in the past

• For things that happened in past and continued during a period of time

• For things that are happening right now.

• For things that will happen in the future.

​The Past Perfect is used:

​for actions or events that happened in the past before another action or event in the past

​Because of this..

​The past perfect is most of the times followed by a sentence in the simple past.

​

I had already gone to bed

when

someone knocked at the door.

​Basic Elements:

​To create a possitive sentence in the simple past you must use:

​

​The auxiliary : And the verb:

​HAD PAST PARTICIPLE

​Example:

​He had finished the book, by the time I started it.

​I had closed the door when I realized my keys were inside.

​It's pretty common to use the word:

​Already

​I had already opened the present when I was told it wasnt for me.

Multiple Choice

Let's check your understanding: 

My clothes _____ already _____, when it started raining. 

• Have/ Dried

• Had/ dried

• Will have/ dry

• Had/ dry

Multiple Choice

I had studied the present perfect for two hours when my friend ________ me the exam was about the past perfect.

• Had said

• Had tell

• Tell

• Told

Open Ended

Rewrite the sentence with the word "already":

I had come back from the store when my mom told me she also needed onions.

​But what if I want to speak negatively?

​You add not in between the auxiliary and the verb:

​

​I had not started my homework yet when the teacher told us it was cancelled.

​

​Remember that:

​HAD + NOT = hadn't

​I hadn't spoken to my boyfriend all week long, when he arrived to my house with some flowers.

​When talking negatively it's common to use the word:

​Yet

​I hadn't finished cooking yet, when we ran out of gas.

​How about questions? How do I do them?

​Moving the auxiliary to the beginning..

​

​Had you already done your makeup before you painted your nails?

​

​Had you had your breakfast yet?

​

​Notice that we use already and yet for the questions. Without these words the question usually sounds funny.

Multiple Select

I _____ told my mom about the accident yet, when the found the crashed car. 

• hadn't

• Haven't

• had not

• Have not

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks

Poll

Does this sentence look ok? 

When he arrived to the train station, the train had left. 

• This is a great sentence. Thanks teacher, you're so talented and intelligent.

• This sentence sounds like garbage. 

• This sentence is so wrong. The order's been inversed.

• I don't even know what to make out of this sentence.

​Of course the sentence is correct!

​The order of the sentences can be changed without changing the meaning.

​

​When he arrived to the train station, the train had left.

or

​The train had left when he arrived to the train station.

Poll

The class is over: 

Which of these areas gives you the most trouble?

• Neither. I'm super duper intelligent and I understood everything.

• I'm not sure how to make possitive sentences.

• Making negative sentences just sounds really hard.

• Making questions is just so complicated.