A. Study this example situation:
Sarah
went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too but they didn't see each
other. Paul went home at 10.30 and Sarah arrived at 11 o'clock. So:
When
Sarah arrived at the party, Paul wasn't there. He had gone home.
Had gone
is the past perfect (simple):
I/we/they/you or he/she/it had (= I'd etc./he'd etc.) gone/seen/finished
etc.
The past
perfect simple is had + past participle (gone/seen/finished etc.). For a list
of irregular verbs, see Appendix 1.
Sometimes we talk about something that happened in the past:
* Sarah
arrived at the party.
This is
the starting point of the story. Then, if we want to talk about things that
happened before this time, we use the past perfect (had ... ):
* When
Sarah arrived at the party, Paul had already gone home.
Some
more examples:
* When
we got home last night, we found that somebody had broken into the flat.
* Karen
didn't want to come to the cinema with us because she had already seen the
film.
* At
first I thought I'd done the right thing, but I soon realised that I'd made a
serious mistake.
* The
man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. He hadn't flown
before./He had never flown before.
B. Had
done (past perfect) is the past of have done (present perfect). Compare:
present perfect
* Who is
that woman? I've never seen her before.
* We
aren't hungry. We've just had lunch.
* The
house is dirty. They haven't cleaned it for weeks.
past
perfect
* I
didn't know who she was. I'd never seen her before. (= before that time)
* We
weren't hungry. We'd just had lunch.
* The
house was dirty. They hadn't cleaned it for weeks.
C.
Compare the past perfect (I had done) and past simple (I did):
* 'Was
Tom at the party when you arrived?' 'No, he had already gone home.'
but 'Was
Tom there when you arrived?' 'Yes, but he went home soon afterwards.'
* Ann
wasn't at home when I phoned. She was in London.
but Ann
had just got home when I phoned. She had been in London.
EXERCISES
15.1
Read the situations and write sentences from the words in brackets.
1. You
went to Jill's house but she wasn't there. (she/go/out) She had gone out.
2. You
went back to your home town after many years. It wasn't the same as before.
(it/change/a lot)
3. I
invited Rachel to the party but she couldn't come.
(she/arrange/to do something else)
4. You
went to the cinema last night. You arrived at the cinema late.
(the
film/already/begin)
5. I was
very pleased to see tim again after such a long time.
(I/not/see/him for five years)
6. I
offered Sue something to eat but she wasn't hungry.
(she/just/have/breakfast)
15.2
Read the situations and write sentences ending with before. Use the verb given
in brackets.
1. The
man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. It was his first flight.
(fly) He
had never flown before. OR He hadn't flown before.
2. A
woman walked into the room. She was a complete stranger to me.
(see) I
--- before.
3. Simon
played tennis yesterday. He wasn't very good at it because it was his first
game.
(play)
He ---
4. Last
year we went to Denmark. It was our first time there (be) We ---
15.3 Use
the sentences on the left to complete the paragraphs on the right. These
sentences are in the order in which they happened - so (1) happened before (2),
(2) before (3) etc. But your paragraph begins with the underlined sentence, so
sometimes you need the past perfect.
1. (1)
Somebody broke into the office during the night.
(2) _We
arrived at work in the morning._
(3) We
called the police
We
arrived at work in the morning and found that somebody had broken into the
office during the night. So we ---
2. (1)
Ann went out.
(2) _I
tried to phone her_ this morning.
(3)
There was no answer.
I tried
to phone Ann this morning but --- no answer. She --- out.
3. (1)
Jim came back from holiday a few days ago.
(2) _I
met him the same day._
(3) He
looked very well.
I met
Jim a few days ago. He --- just --- He ---
4. (1)
Kevin wrote to Sally many times.
(2) She
never replied to his letters.
(3)
_Yesterday he had a phone call from her._
(4) He
was very surprised.
Yesterday Kevin --- He --- very surprised. He --- many times but she ---
15.4 Put
the verb into the correct form, past perfect (I had done etc.) or past simple
(I did etc.).
1. 'Was
Tom at the party when you arrived?' 'No, he had gone (go) home.'
2. I
felt very tire when I got home, so I --- (go) straight to bed.
3. The
house was very quiet when I got home. Everybody --- (go) to bed.
4. Sorry
I'm late. The car --- (break) down on my way here.
5. We
were driving along the road when we --- (see) a car which. --- (break) down, so
we --- (stop) to see if we could help.
Answers
15.1
2 It had
changed a lot.
3 She
had arranged to do something else./She'd arranged.
4 The
film had already begun.
5 1
hadn't seen him for five years.
6 She
had just had breakfast./She'd just had.
15.2
2 I had
never seen her before./I'd never seen.
3 He had
never played tennis before./He'd never played.
4 We had
never been there before./We'd never been there before. or ... been to Denmark
before.
15.3
1 called
the police
2 there
was ... had gone I'd gone
3 had
just come back from holiday/'d just come ... looked very well
4 had a
phone call from Sally was had written to her I 'd written. had never replied to
his letters/'d never replied.
15.4
2 went
3 had
gone
4 broke
5 saw
... had broken ... stopped