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Past Perfect Simple & Continuous

Grammar – past perfect simple (had + p/p)

Affirmative: I had done / You had done / He/she/it had done / We had done / You had done
(plural) / They had done

Negative: I had not done / You had not done / He/she/it had not done / We had not done /
You had not done / They had not done

Question: Had I done? / Had you done? / Had he/she/it done? / Had we done? / Had you
done? / Had they done?

We use the past perfect simple to talk about what happened before a point in the past. It looks back
from a point in the past to further in the past.
• I hadn't known the bad news when I spoke to him.
• I checked with the supplier and they still hadn't received the contract.
• She had already told him before I got a chance to give him my version.
• The company has started the year well but was badly hit by the postal strike.
The past perfect simple is often used when we report what people had said/thought/believed.
• He told me they had already paid the bill.
• He said he believed that John had moved to Italy.
• I thought we had already decided on a name for this product.

Grammar – past perfect continuous (had + been + ing)

Affirmative: I had been doing / You had been doing / He/she/it had been doing / We had
been doing / You had been doing (pl.) / They had been doing

Negative: I had not been doing / You had not been doing / He/she/it had not been doing /
We had not been doing / You had not been doing / They had not been doing

Question: Had I been doing? / Had you been doing? / Had he/she/it been doing? / Had we
been doing? / Had you been doing? / Had they been doing?

We use the past perfect continuous to look back at a situation in progress.

• It was a good time to invest. Inflation had been falling for several months.
• Before I changed jobs, I had been working on a plan to reduce production costs.
• We had been thinking about buying a new house but then we decided to stay here.
We use it to say what had been happening before something else happened.
• It had been snowing for a while before we left.
• We had been playing tennis for only a few minutes when it started raining.
• He was out of breath when he arrived because he had been running.
We use it when reporting things said in the past.
• She said she had been trying to call me all day.
• They said they had been shopping.
I told you I had been looking for some new clothes.

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Past perfect simple & continuous Exercise 1

(Intermediate level)

Put the verbs in brackets into their correct forms.

1. After I _____________________ the letter, I _____________________ that I ________________

the wrong address on it. (post, realise, write)
2. John asked me where I _____________________ the day before. (be)
3. At this time yesterday, we ___________________________ for 6 km. (already walk)
4. When I _____________________ through the streets of Madrid, I _____________________
about the magnificent time I _____________________ there as a student. (walk, think, spend)
5. It was the first time that she _____________________ me to dinner. (invite)
6. As soon as the maid _____________________ scrubbing the kitchen floor, she
_______________ working in the garden. (finish, start)
7. We started to worry about Jimmy because we _____________________ him all afternoon. (call)
8. They _____________________ their way out of town before the sun __________________.
(already make, rise)
9. We _____________________ for two hours when we finally got to our hotel. (drive)
10. When I _____________________ home, I saw that the children _______________________.
(arrive, leave)
11. While I _____________________ in the garden it __________________ me that I ____________
off the oven. (work, strike, not turn)
12. I _____________________ my best friend to the party, but he couldn't come because he
_____________________ other plans. (invite, already make)
13. I _____________________ out of the window because I _____________________ I
_____________________ some noises. (look, think, hear)
14. We _____________________ TV when we saw that a devastating earthquake
________________ California. (watch, hit)
15. The police told me that someone __________________ into our neighbour's house. (break)
16. When I finally _____________________ at the airport, he told me that he
_____________________ for half an hour. (arrive, wait)

Adapted from: www.english-grammar.at

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Past perfect simple & continuous Exercise 2

(Advanced level)

Put the verbs in brackets into their correct forms.

1. We were all happy because we __________________ in our homework in time. (HAND)

2. Mrs Shilton __________________ a primary school teacher for twenty years before she became
headmaster of the school. (BE)
3. When we got there, we saw that they ______________________ for over 20 minutes. (REST)
4. We ________________________ dance moves for over two hours, so you can imagine we were
very tired. (PRACTICE)
5. The film ______________________ when we finally got to the cinema. (ALREADY START)
6. By the time I __________________ to school the lesson had already started. (GET)
7. I ____________________________ up for a few minutes when the doorbell rang and our friends
arrived. (ONLY WASH)
8. He __________________ about the accident before he saw it on TV. (HEAR)
9. I __________________ the office after I had finished writing my last email. (LEAVE)
10.The car __________________ down shortly after we had got on the motorway. (BREAK)
11.We _________________________ for an hour when we finally arrived at the remote village.
(WALK)
12.I saw the film after I __________________ the book. (READ)
13.I had already thought of that before you __________________ it up. (BRING)
14.She was so tired because she _________________________ football the whole afternoon. (PLAY)
15.As soon as the girls had cleaned the house the visitors __________________. (ARRIVE)
16.By the time I was 16 I ______________________ to become a scientist. (ALREADY DECIDE)
17.Suddenly I realised that I _________________________ at the wrong person. He was absolutely
innocent. (SHOUT)
18.I ____________________ from my job because I had received an offer from another company.
(RESIGN)
19.The teacher gave us a break because we ______________________ on the project for several
hours. (WORK)
20.After dad had finished mowing the lawn, he ____________________ repairing the car. (START)

Adapted from: www.english-grammar.at

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Answers Exercise 1
1. After I had posted the letter, I realised that I had written the wrong address on it
2. John asked me where I had been the day before.
3. At this time yesterday, we had already been walking for 6 km
4. When I was walking through the streets of Madrid, I thought about the magnificent time I had
spent there as a student.
5. It was the first time that she had invited me to dinner.
6. As soon as the maid had finished scrubbing the kitchen floor, she started working in
the garden.
7. We started to worry about Jimmy because we had been calling him all afternoon.
8. They had already made their way out of town before the sun rose.
9. We had been driving for two hours when we finally got to our hotel.
10. When I arrived home, I saw that the children had already left.
11. While I was working in the garden it struck me that I hadn't turned off the oven.
12. I invited my best friend to the party, but he couldn't come because he had already made other
plans.
13. I looked out of the window because I thought I had heard some noises.
14. We were watching TV when we saw that a devastating earthquake had hit California.
15. The police told me that someone had broken into our neighbour's house.
16. When I finally arrived at the airport, he told me that he had been waiting for half an hour.

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Answer Key Exercise 2

1. We were all happy because we had handed in our homework in time. (HAND)
2. Mrs Shilton had been a primary school teacher for twenty years before she became headmaster
of the school. (BE)
3. When we got there, we saw that they had been resting for over 20 minutes. (REST)
4. We had been practicing dance moves for over two hours, so you can imagine we were very tired.
(PRACTICE)
5. The film had already started when we finally got to the cinema. (ALREADY START)
6. By the time I got to school the lesson had already started. (GET)
7. I had only been washing up for a few minutes when the doorbell rang and our friends arrived.
(ONLY WASH)
8. He had heard about the accident before he saw it on TV. (HEAR)
9. I left the office after I had finished writing my last email. (LEAVE)
10.The car broke down shortly after we had got on the motorway. (BREAK)
11.We had been walking for an hour when we finally arrived at the remote village. (WALK)
12.I saw the film after I had read the book. (READ)
13.I had already thought of that before you brought it up. (BRING)
14.She was so tired because she had been playing football the whole afternoon. (PLAY)
15.As soon as the girls had cleaned the house the visitors arrived. (ARIVE)
16.By the time I was 16 I had already decided to become a scientist. (ALREADY DECIDE)
17.Suddenly I realised that I had been shouting at the wrong person. He was absolutely innocent.
(SHOUT)
18.I resigned from my job because I had received an offer from another company. (RESIGN)
19.The teacher gave us a break because we had been working on the project for several hours.
(WORK)
20.After dad had finished mowing the lawn, he started repairing the car. (START)

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