Activities: “How to use the past perfect in English?”
Activity 1: Past simple and past perfect
Select either the past simple or past perfect in each pair of verbs below, to make the sentence correct:
- Before John (had entered / entered) the classroom, the teacher (began / had begun) the lesson.
- I (didn’t tell / hadn’t told) them about the water leak before they (discovered / had discovered) the wet floor.
- The doctor (already saw / had already seen) all of her patients by the time that her father (visited / had visited).
- When Mary (called / had called), I (already went / had already gone) out.
- Before I (saw / had seen) that movie, I (heard / had heard) a lot about it.
- Peter (said / had said) that he (finished already / had already finished) his homework.
- The dog (made / had made) a mess before we (got / had gotten) home from work.
- I (read / had read) the professor’s book before I (attended / had attended) his class.
- She (left / had left) long before I (moved / had moved) to town.
Activity 2: How I became an English teacher
Let me share my story about how I became an English teacher back in the 1980s.
Fill in the past simple or the past perfect form of the verb in parentheses. In many cases, both will be possible, but use the past perfect where it is allowed.
I (study) Theatre Management and Direction at university and (graduate) in 1982. I (think) I would work in theater, so I (move) to New York City, the home of Broadway!
I first (work) as office manager at an important costume company. At university, I (study) costume construction, so I (know) a lot about the work. Also, I (take) many classes in management, so that (help) a lot too!
After about a year, I (quit) that job. I (get) tired of all the drama at work. My boss (get) too demanding, and (want) me to do a lot of silly things, like bring him coffee every morning. I (not study) theater just to make coffee!
I (look) around a lot before I finally (find) a good job that I liked. I (begin) giving ESL classes in a small language agency. My students (be) mainly European tourists who (want) to learn some basic English. They (not learn) much English before they came to New York. I (teach) them simple English for restaurants and taxi drivers.
I (decide) to study more about language teaching. I (minor) in creative writing in my school days, so I (know) a lot about grammar. But I (not learn) anything about teaching grammar. Also, I (study) voice and articulation, so that experience (be) helpful. I (go) back to school and (study) Applied Linguistics.
Finally, I (move) to Spain. I (teach) ESL in NYC for about six years by then, and living in the city (be) very expensive, so I (think) a change was good. Before I (move) to Spain, I (study) Spanish for about two years. My Spanish (be) not very good at first, but because I (study) how to teach a language, I (be) a very quick learner.
