The past perfect simple and continuous

The past perfect simple and continuous

EXERCISES 

I. Past perfect simple:

1) Form: 

Affirmative	Negative	interrogative
Jane had done her home work	Jane had not done her home work	Had Jane done her home work?
S + had + PP	S + had + not + pp	Had + S + pp?

2) Use:

Past perfect simple (first event)	Simple past (second event)
I had just completed the exam	I felt free
The thief had escaped	Before I called the police
You had studied English	Before you moved to Britain
He had already left	When I got to his house
We had calmed down	By the time the police came
He had been upstairs	When we came home
We hadn’t noticed	Until we heard the foot steps
After I had called the police	We realized the thief was gone

The past perfect simple expresses the relationship in time between two past events. It shows that one action occurred before another action in the past. The past perfect simple expresses the first action and the past simple expresses the second action. +++ The past perfect simple is used with some adverbials and prepositions: before, by the time, when, until, after, already, yet, still, for, just, never…………. II. The past perfect continuous: 1. Form: Affirmative Negative Interrogative He had been working He had not been working Had he been working? S + had + bee n + v + ing S + had + not + been + v + ing Had + S + been + v +ing

2. Use:

a) When the action began before the time of speaking in the past, and continued up to that time or stopped before it.

e.g: when I got to the meeting, the lecture had already been speaking for an hour

b) The past perfect continuous is used to refer to an action in the past which continued until another action took place.

e.g: The miners had been digging all night long when an explosion occurred.

c) The past perfect continuous is used to indicate that something occurred for long time before another event in the past.

e.g: - Ahmed had been working in cheese factory for ten years before he retired

- Bob had been teaching in that school for more than twenty years before he became a headmaster.

d) The past perfect continuous is used to explain why an activity or feeling occurred in the past.

e.g: - It was now six o’clock pm and he was very tired because he had been working since 8:00 am

- My heart was beating too fast because I had been running for miles

EXERCISES