Introduction
The past perfect simple tense is used to talk about an action that was completed at a given point in the past before something else happened. It is formed by adding the past participle of the verb to had. To get more details about this tense, take a look at the following table.
Basic notes about past perfect simple
| FORM | – Rule: subject + had + past participle – Affirmative/Positive: I/We/They/He/She/It had gone/finished/studied – Negative: I/We/They/He/She/It had not gone/finished/studied – Interrogative: Had I/We/They/He/She/It gone/finished/studied? |
| USE/FUNCTION | 1) An action that happened before another in the past and had just finished or was still continuing 2) In conditional type 3 3) In reported speech |
| EXAMPLES | 1) – When we arrived at the cinema the film had already started. 2) If I had received your e-mail, I would have contacted you. 3) When I met him he told me that he had been sick over the past months. |
| SIGNAL WORDS | – already – just – never – when – before/after – by the time |
Practice
Put the verbs between brackets in the past perfect tense
- Christy (already, adopt) _______ ______ _______ several dogs before she adopted Molly.
- Seth (seldom, play) _______ _______ _______soccer before he tried out for his school’s team.
- That species of elephant (recently, disappear) ______ ______ ______ from the area, so we were not able to see it.
- It was a good year for Melissa; she (quickly, sell) ______ ______ ______ her quota of houses and was rewarded with a vacation.
- by the time Edward left Elise, he (forgive, not, yet) ______ ______ ______ .
- The company (seriously, consider) ______ ______ ______ moving its plant to Iowa, but chose Oregon instead.
- Lucia (frequently, think) ______ ______ ______ about returning to her home in Costa Rica before she found a job in New York.
- The history class members (usually, watch) ______ ______ ______ a movie the day before a test.
- The new citizens (solemnly, swear) ______ ______ ______ their loyalty to the country when they took the oath.
- The car still costs ______ ______ ______ $15,000, even after the price (be) reduced.
- I (study) _______ _______ extremely hard before the test was given.
- You (pick) _______ _______ a lot of tomatoes from your garden before we had any ripe ones in ours.
- We (expect) _______ _______ to find many vacant hotel rooms, but we only found one.
- They (play) ______ _______ in the Super Bowl in 1990, so they were more prepared in 1995.
- He (enjoy) _______ ______ color photography before he tried black-and-white film.
- She (look) _______ ________ all over town for a formal dress before she found one she liked.
- The animal (jump) ______ _______ out of its cage just before we arrived at the zoo!
- Tonya (work) _______ _______ as a decorator before she opened her shop.
- The power supply (fail) _______ _______ during the night, so the house got cold.
- You (call) _______ _______ earlier in the day, so we knew you were on your way.
