Past perfect and Past perfect continuous

Past perfect

• 7:30am…. I ate a big breakfast • 8:00am…. I went to school.• Now…. 1:00 pm• Both of these activities happened in the

past!  However, one happened before the other

• What happened first?  What happened second?

• First:  I ate breakfast.• Second:  I went to school.

• Here is a common way to write (or say) these two actions using the past perfect.  The past perfect is written in red.

• Before I went to school, I had eaten a big breakfast.

• -OR- • After I had eaten breakfast, I went to

school.

• What do you notice about the past perfect?  First, you should have noticed that the past perfect is the action (had eaten a big breakfast) that happened BEFORE the other action in the past (went to school).

• Read and rewrite the following sentences using the past perfect.  Combine the sentences using the word or phrase given.  The first one has been done for you.

• 1. First: Bill bought a house in Barcelona. • Second: Mary moved to Barcelona. • Phrase or Word: Before  

• First: The children finished dinner. • Second: They ate ice cream. • Phrase or Word: After

• First: Millions of Native Americans (American Indians) were in North America for thousands of years.

• Second: Christopher Columbus landed in North America in 1492.

• Phrase or Word: When

• First: In 1753, Jean-François Pilatre de Rozier became the world’s first human flier by using a balloon.

• Second: The Wright Brothers flew their first plane on December 17, 1903.

• Phrase or Word: By the time

• The National Free Bank made bad investments.

• Second: They went bankrupt. • Phrase or Word: After

Past Perfect continuous

• We use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.

• "For five minutes" and "for two weeks" are both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous

• Examples:• They had been talking for over an hour before Tony

arrived.• She had been working at that company for three

years when it went out of business.• How long had you been waiting to get on the bus? • Mike wanted to sit down because he had been

standing all day at work. • James had been teaching at the university for more

than a year before he left for Asia.• A: How long had you been studying Turkish before

you moved to Ankara?B: I had not been studying Turkish very long.

Cause of Something in the Past• Using the Past Perfect Continuous before

another action in the past is a good way to show cause and effect.

• Examples:• Jason was tired because he had been

jogging.• Sam gained weight because he had been

overeating.• Betty failed the final test because she had

not been attending class.

Exercises

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs13.htm

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs14.htm