Name:

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Past Perfect Simple

We use the Past Perfect Simple for:
An action which happened before another action in the
past.
Ex. When I arrived to the movie theater, the movie
had finished.
We can use the time clauses (when, after, before) to link
Ex.
two events in the past. We use the Past Perfect Simple for
Before the play was over, I had
the event that took place first and the Past Simple for the
cried at least three times.
more recent event.
Ex. Many people had left, before the band started
playing.
We form the Past Perfect
Simple by using the auxiliary
verb had and a verb in Past
Participle:

Name:
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Exercises:

In negative sentences, we add not to the auxiliary

verb had.
Example. It was in Mrs. Johns class that we noticed she hadnt come
to
school.

2.Rewrite the following sentences in their negative form.

1. He had been to New York before.
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2. She had gone home before dark.
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3. Mathew had finished eating before I arrived.
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4. Liz and Mary had bought everything they needed by 5:00 pm.
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5. Tony had built his own house by the age of 25.
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3.

Match the two columns to make full sentences as in the

example.

Answer Key

1.
1
2
3
4
5

had
had
had
had
had

started
eaten
finished
seen
had

2.
1
2
3
4

He hadnt been to New York before.

She hadnt gone home before dark.
Mathew hadnt finished eating before I arrived.
Liz and Mary hadnt bought everything they
needed by 5:00 pm.
5 Tony hadnt built his own house by the age of
25.
1. When Tracy got home d
2. Derek had paid full price
___
3. Before the fire started ___
4. I had applied for another
job ___
5. Before now ___
6. Thomas won the price ___

a. I had left the office.

b. She had never been to
France.
c. Before I got the promotion.
d. She noticed somebody had
broken into it.
e. Because everybody else
had forgotten to turn in
their projects.
f. Before he realized there
was a discount.

3.
1
2
3
4
5
6

d
f
a
c
b
e