Brahim Ait Hammou.

2009-2010
Teaching Grammar----Unit 1.

The past perfect and the past perfect continuous

Karim is telling his friends about his visit to London in 2000.
1-what had Karim thought about his visit to London before he went in the year 2000?
Karim had thought that the English people didnt like foreigners before he went to England.
2-what did he discover later?
He discovered that the English are so nice and friendly
Before I went to England in the year 2000,I had always thought that they didnt like foreigners. But, my host family
were very nice and did everything they could to make me feel comfortable ,and to make me feel at home. Before I
arrived, they had decorated their house and my room. They had also planned visits to the most important places in
London. As soon as I had arrived, I discovered that my friend Mike had already been waiting for me in the airport for
almost one hour. I arrived in the airport at 7:00, and he had been there from 5:30.He told me that he had a party at home.
By the time we arrived at home, I discovered that my friend had prepared special dishes, and that the party had already
started. He had also invited some other friends .At that night I discovered that the English I had learnt at school was very
useful for me. That night I was very tired and I slept at almost 12:00. This is just a.
3-Read the text again and underline all the actions (verbs).
4-Put the actions in this chart depending on their logical order-sequence.
Expression used
1-before
2-before
3-as soon as

Later(second)action
1-I went to England in the year 2000,
2-I arrived,
3-I discovered that..

First action
1-I had always thought that.
2-they had decorated their house and my room
3-I had arrived

The first action is

always in the past perfect and the second is in

Tense: simple past

simple past
Tense:pst perfect

5-NOW ,DISCOVER
The past perfect: FORMSUBJECT+HAD+VERB IN THE PAST PARTICIPLE
USE----WE USE THE PAST PERFECT FOR AN ACTION WHICH HAPPENED BEFORE
ANOTHER ACTION IN THE PAST.SO, THE FISRT ACTION IS ALWAYS IN THE PAST PERFECT AND
THE SECOND IS IN SIMPLE PAST
The past perfect continuous: FORMSUBJECT+HAD BEEN+VERBing
USE The same use above.prefered when the action is progressive or continous
6-Match each part of the sentences in A with an appropriate part from B:
A
B
1-The children had already done their
a-I had never travelled by plane before that.
homework --d
b-the match had already started.
2-My wife didnt watch the film with me,--c
c-because she had seen it before.
3-when Tom arrived,---b
d-when their mother arrived.
4-DO THIS ONE..
e-DO THIS ONE
5-Sue had been watching her favourite
programme
7- Put the verbs between brackets in the correct tense: Simple past or Past perfect(cont.).
1-When I (arrive) arrived at 9:00 yesterday morning, Merriam (leave/already) had already left to Rabat.
2-Bill was in uniform when I met him. He (serve) had been serving as a soldier for 10 years.
3-Ann (die) died in 1950. She (live)had been living in a cottage for sixty years.
4-Last year there (be) was some rain in Morocco. Before that the country (suffer) had suffered from serious droughts.
5-America occupied Iraq in 2003. before that, its people (enjoy) had enjoyed an economic prosperity.
Please notice that the blue verbs are in the simple past ,and the red verbs are in the past perfect
8- application: pair/individual work.