Grammar World 5 - Ch18
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megamind publicationGrammar World 5 - Ch18
Uploaded by
megamind publication18 Past Perfect
Tense
At the end of this chapter, students will be able to:
identify verbs used in the past perfect tense.
use the past perfect verbs correctly in sentences.
understand the grammatical structure of the past perfect tense.
Fill in the blanks with the past perfect form of the verbs given in the brackets.
1. The bell ____________ (ring) before I reached the school.
2. My mother ____________ (already, prepare) lunch when the guests arrived.
3. When they reached the movie hall, the movie ____________ (already, start).
4. The teacher asked me what ____________ (happen) to me last week.
5. When I reached my friend’s house, he ____________ (already, leave) for the
party.
6. When the police reached the bank, the robbers ____________ (already, escape).
7. He told us that he ________________ (study) a lot before the exam.
8. The lights went off because they __________________ (not, pay) the electricity
bill.
Read the following sentences:
1. By the time she returned home, Mita had already left.
2. When I reached the bus stop, the bus had already left.
3. I had lived in Hyderabad before I moved to Lucknow.
4. He went home after he had completed all his assignments.
In the above sentences, the highlighted words are in the past perfect tense. Here, we find
that one action happened before another in the past. We use the past perfect tense to
show which action happened first.
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The past perfect tense is used to describe a completed action in the past.
It is used to indicate that an action was completed before another action
took place in the past.
Past perfect tense is used to express:
an action that was completed before another action in the past. For example,
´´ The plane had left before he reached the airport.
´´ We had finished our lunch before the play began.
an action that had happened before a specific time in the past. For example,
´´ All of us had had our dinner by 9 o’clock.
´´ By dinner time, my sister had finished her homework.
Structure of Present Perfect Tense
For assertive sentences
Sentence structure: Subject + helping verb (had) + main verb (past participle)
Subject Helping Verb Main Verb
I had slept.
You had slept.
He/She/It/Deep had slept.
We had slept.
You had slept.
They/Deep and Diksha had slept.
For negative sentences
Sentence structure: Subject + helping verb (had) + not + main verb (past participle)
Subject Helping Verb+Not Main Verb
I had not eaten.
You had not eaten.
He/She/It/Deep had not eaten.
We had not eaten.
You had not eaten.
They/Deep and Diksha had not eaten.
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For interrogative sentences
1. For yes/no questions
Sentence structure: Helping verb (Had) + subject + main verb (past participle)
Helping Verb Subject Main Verb
Had I eaten?
Had you eaten?
Had he/she/it/Deep eaten?
Had we eaten?
Had you eaten?
Had they/Deep and Diksha eaten?
2. For wh- questions (who, why, how, when, what and where)
Sentence structure: Wh-(question word) + helping verb (had) + subject + main
verb (past participle)
Question word Helping verb Subject Main verb
Wh- had I bought?
Wh- had you bought?
Wh- had he/she/it/Deep bought?
Wh- had we bought?
Wh- had you bought?
Wh- had they/Deep and Diksha bought?
A. Circle the correct options in the following sentences.
1. I had solved/solved the problem when the teacher asked me for the answer.
2. Piyush has gone/had gone out when I arrived in the office.
3. My father had not learnt/learnt Spanish before he moved/had moved to Spain.
4. I did not think/had not thought of going for the class picnic before I heard/had
heard of the picnic spot.
5. When the rain started/had started, I had already finished/had finished planting the
saplings.
6. I had not ever tried/did not try Italian food before we went/had gone to the Italian
restaurant.
7. I had seen/saw the movie before it was shown/had shown on television.
8. When she had retired/retired, she had worked/worked for the company for
twenty-five years.
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B. Correct the errors in the use of past perfect tense in the following sentences and
rewrite them.
1. They had already ate when their father come home.
______________________________________________________________
2. When I reach the airport, I realised I forgot my ticket.
______________________________________________________________
3. When I open the fridge, I find someone ate my ice cream.
______________________________________________________________
4. My mother is very happy to see that I had clean the kitchen.
______________________________________________________________
5. I cannot remember the poem that I had learn in class four.
______________________________________________________________
NCF C-1.1
Communication Critical Thinking
Work with a partner for this activity.
Tell each other about your day, but start from the end and work backwards. Use the past
perfect tense to show what had happened before each event. For example,
Before I went to bed, I had brushed my teeth.
Before I brushed my teeth, I had put on my pyjamas.
Before I put on my pyjamas, I had taken a bath.
Take turns telling your day in reverse. Try to use the past perfect tense as much as you
can!
Remember: The past perfect tense helps us show which action came first when we’re
talking about two things that happened in the past.
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