Unit 15 — Past perfect (I had done)

Study this example situation:

at 10.30 PAUL: Bye!

at 11.00 SARAH: Hello!

Sarah went to a party last week. Paul went to the party too, but they didn’t see each other. Paul left the party 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
had
(= I’d etc.)
gone
seen / finished etc.
he / she / it
had
(= he’d etc.)
gone
seen / finished etc.

The past perfect simple is had + past participle (gone / seen / finished etc.).

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 go to the cinema with us because she’d already seen the film.
  • At first I thought I’d done the right thing, but I soon realised that I’d made a big mistake.
  • The man sitting next to me on the plane was very nervous. He hadn’t flown before.
    or … He had never flown before.

Compare the present perfect (have seen etc.) and the past perfect (had seen etc.):

Present perfect
have seen
Past perfect
had seen
  • 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.
  • 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.

Compare the past simple (left, was etc.) and the past perfect (had left, had been etc.):

  • A: Was Tom there when you arrived?
    B: Yes, but he left soon afterwards.
  • Kate wasn’t at home when I phoned. She was at her mother’s house.
  • A: Was Tom there when you arrived?
    B: No, he had already left.
  • Kate had just got home when I phoned. She had been at her mother’s house.

Past perfect continuous → Unit 16   |   Irregular verbs (gone / seen etc.) → Appendix 1

15.1 Read the situations and write sentences from the words in brackets. Write full forms of verbs, not short forms!

  1. You went to Sue’s house, but she wasn’t there.
    (she / go / 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 got to the cinema late.
    (the film / already / begin) →
  5. It was nice to see Dan 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) →
Correct: 0 Incorrect: 0

 

15.2 For each situation, write a sentence ending with never … before.

  1. The man sitting next to you on the plane was very nervous. It was his first flight.
    (fly) → before (Он никогда раньше не летал)
  2. A woman walked into the room. She was a complete stranger to me.
    (see) → I her before
  3. Sam played tennis yesterday. He wasn’t very good at it because it was his first game.
    (play) → He before
  4. Last year we went to Denmark. It was our first time there.
    (be there) → We there before
Correct: 0 Incorrect: 0

 

15.3 Complete the paragraphs. Use the past perfect where necessary.

  1. We arrived at work in the morning and found that somebody (проник в офис) during the night. So we (вызвали полицию).
  2. I tried to phone Laura this morning, but (ответа не было). She (вышла / ушла).
  3. I met Jim a few days ago. He just (вернулся из отпуска). He (выглядел очень хорошо).
  4. Yesterday Kevin (получил телефонный звонок) from Sally. He (был очень удивлён). He (отправил ей много писем), but she (никогда на них не отвечала).
Correct: 0 Incorrect: 0

 

15.4 Put the verb into the correct form: past perfect or past simple.

  1. ‘Was Paul at the party when you arrived?’ — ‘No, he home.’
  2. I felt very tired when I got home, so I straight to bed.
  3. The house was very quiet when I got home. Everybody to bed.
  4. Sorry I’m late. The car on my way here.
  5. We were driving along the road when we a car which , so we to help.
Correct: 0 Incorrect: 0