Page 67 - Grasp English B1+ (Student Book)

A Mysterious Case 5
Grammar 2 Past perfect simple
A. Circle the past perfect verbs in the sentences below.
1. Esther had studied before her class.
2. They had been friends for a long time.
We use past perfect simple to talk about completed
actions that happened before a specific time or another
action in the past.
e.g.
I had locked all the windows when the rainstorm started.
I recognised Fiona at first sight because we had met in
Seattle a few months ago.
We also use past perfect simple to express a period or
continuance before a specific time or another action in
the past. (Only with non-continuous/stative verbs)
e.g.
We had wanted to buy a house for years when we found
this cheap one.
I had been a shy girl until I started high school.
We often use the time expressions such as just, already,
before, for (with a period).
e.g.
You had already left home when I called you.
I had just left home when you called me.
B. Circle the past perfect verbs in the sentences below.
1. I had just left the house when it started to rain.
2. She had already told me the information.
We often use past perfect, simple and past simple together.
To combine these two tenses, we can use time expressions
and conjunctions used in the example sentences below.
e.g.
When I met Marie, she had (already) finished school.
Before you could see the seagull, it had flown away.
She had fallen asleep by the time the movie finished.
They closed the supermarket after I had done my shopping.
Our car stopped because we had run out of petrol.
See the structure of past perfect simple below:
+ I / He / They had been to the US.
- I / He / They hadn’t
? Had you / he / they been to the US?
We use had with the past participle form (V3) of the main
verb to form a sentence in past perfect simple tense.
C. Read the text and fill in the gaps with
the past perfect form of the verbs
given.
arrive
be dance design
dream practise
learn work
Last Tuesday, my best friend performed
in a dance recital. She danced to a
beautiful piece of music which she
1 for months. I went to
see her in the recital. I 2
just at the show when
the music started. I saw her come onto
the stage, wearing a beautiful dress.
Her mother 3 the dress by
herself. She looked amazing in it! She
4 only for three minutes
when the music suddenly stopped. The
audience was shocked! The director
got onto the stage and sat down at
the piano. The director 5
already how to play the
music on the piano, so she started to
play. My best friend continued dancing
to the piano music, and it was perfect.
I couldn’t believe it! She 6
so hard on this dance, so I was relieved
that the music problem didn’t stop her
from finishing her dance on stage. The
audience stood and clapped for a
long time when she was finished. After
the recital, my best friend told me that
the music player 7 broken
before, so she wasn’t surprised when it
stopped playing during her performance.
In fact, she 8 about it
breaking during her recital. She couldn’t
believe her dream actually came true!
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