04/12/12

Grammar focus: Past perfect

Grammar Presentation

Sentences

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Subject +	had +	(adverb) +	Past Participle
(He'd) He	had	just	finished his dinner.
(We'd)We	had	already	left.
They	(hadn't) had not		bought the tickets.
(I'd) I	had	stupidly	missed the bus.

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Questions

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Had +(not)	Subject +	(adverb) +	Past Participle
Had	she	deliberately	left the key there?
Had	they	already	arrived?
Hadn't (had not)	he		called to remind them?
Had	he	really	finished school by then?

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Uses of the Past Perfect

1. The past perfect shows a completed action before something in the past.

When I arrived at the party, she had already left.

She came to fetch me, but I hadn’t eaten breakfast yet.

I had never seen such a beautiful beach before I went to Hawaii.

Had you ever visited London before your trip in 2001?

2. It shows the duration before something in the past with non-continuous verbs

We had had that car for twelve years before it broke down.

By the time you met her, I had already known her for a long time.

By the time I finished studying, I had been in London for six years.

3. Non-specific and specific times in the past

If the Past Perfect action happened at a specific time, the Simple Past can be used as well as the Past Perfect when ‘before’ is used in the sentence, as ‘before’ indicates the timescale. BOTH the following sentences are correct:

I had been to London once in 1997, before I moved there in 1999.

I was in London once in 1997, before I moved there in 1999.

But if specific times are not mentioned, we HAVE to use the past perfect:

I had been to London once before I moved there.

I was in London once before I moved there. THIS IS INCORRECT

- Check how much you know: http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/gr.pastperf.i.htm

- Think of an answer to the following questions:
Why was Anne's husband so angry?
Why did Emma not want to watch the film?
Why was the train delayed?
Why couldn't Ivan have a nut-free meal on the plane?
Why did David not know about the meeting?

- Write down ten important historical events (eg: the fall of the Berlin wall, the invention of electricity, the end of WWII)
Now put them in chronological order by writing sentences about each.
(eg: WWII had already ended when the Berlin wall fell)

Language focus: Talking about holidays

Write a diary entry from while you were on your last holiday (tip: You are still on holiday so you will use the present perfect)

Now present it back to the class after the holiday is over (tip - You aren't on holiday anymore so you will use the past perfect)