Transcript The Past Perfect and The past Perfect Progressive

The Past Perfect
The Past Perfect Progressive
The Past Perfect
Use the past perfect when one action in the
past happened before another action in the
past.
Put the earlier action in the past perfect and
the later action in the simple past.
Past Perfect
It is used only when a clear relationship exists
with an event in simple past time.
It indicates that an action was completed
before another one in the past.
When I arrived at the party, everyone had left.
Past Perfect: had + past participle
• It is used to talk about actions that were
completed at an unspecified time before another
past action ( at different times).
I had already done my homework when my
mother arrived.
• With before, by the time, until and when the
verb is in the simple past.
• With after the verb is the past perfect
Because the past perfect means “before”, it
must relate a past event to another past
event or time.
Steve had just dropped a bag of groceries
when Marie came into the kitchen.
He had not finished when we arrived.
EVER, NEVER
(experiences before a specific past time)
YET, STILL, ALREADY
(completed before a specific past time)
JUST
(happened a short time before a specific
past time)
gave 1st got 1st
got 1st hosted talk in 1st
got own built own starred in
born
speech radio job
TV job
show
movie
show
studio
Beloved
---/---------------/-------------/---------------/--------------/---------------/--------------/--------------/------------/--------1954
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
1957
1971
1973
1983
1985
1986
1988
1998
By 1958 Oprah ____________________ her first speech.
By 1971 she _____________________ her first TV job
By 1972 she _____________________ her first radio job.
By 1972 she _____________________ in a major movie.
By 1985 she _____________________ her own TV show.
By 1986 she _____________________ in a major movie
BY 1987 she _____________________ her own studio.
By 2000 she _____________________ in the film Beloved.
Use past perfect and ever, never, yet, still, already or just in the blanks.
Use because to connect sentences.
1. His car broke down.
He took the bus.
2. Charlotte was depressed.
She failed her English exam.
3. We didn’t eat all day.
We were really hungry.
4. We studied hard for three weeks.
We thought the test was easy.
5. Neville couldn’t sleep.
He drank several cups of very strong coffee.
1. He took the bus because his car had broken down.
2. Charlotte was depressed because she had failed
her English exam.
3. We were really hungry because we hadn’t eaten
all day.
4. We thought the test was easy because we had
studied hard for three weeks.
5. Neville couldn’t sleep because he had drunk
several cups of strong coffee.
Past Perfect Progressive
It tells us about the length of the action and
the specific point when it ended. It occurs
with since or for to specify the duration of
the action.
I had been playing for two hours when I fell
and twisted my ankle.
Past perfect progressive: had been + verb-ing
• It is used to talk about actions that were
in progress up to another past action or
time.
I had been doing my homework when she
arrived.
• It expresses a sense that the action was
ongoing and is often used with for, since,
all day, all night
When the race started, it was raining and the
streets were wet.
(It was still raining during the race)
When the race started, it had been raining and
the streets were wet.
(It wasn’t raining during the race. It had
already stopped)
Avoid common mistakes
1. Use the past perfect or past perfect progressive to give background information for a
past tense event.
had
I have never seen my sister in real life, so I was nervous the first time we met.
had been dreaming
I have dreamed about meeting her, and I finally did.
2. Use the past perfect or past perfect progressive to give a reason for a past event.
had been crying
Her eyes were red and puffy because she cried.
3. Use the past perfect (not the past perfect progressive) for a completed earlier event.
arranged
They had been arranging a time to meet, but both of them forgot about it.
4. Use the past perfect (not present perfect) to describe a completed event that
happened before a past event.
had
I have visited her in Maine twice before she came to visit me.
Explain the difference in meaning
A. When the phone rang, I was eating.
B. When the phone rang, I ate.
C. When the phone rang, I had eaten.
D. When the phone rang, I was going to eat.
E. When the phone rang, I had been eating.
THE END!