Exercise 1
Read the situations and write sentences from the words in brackets.
1 You went to Sue’s house, but she wasn’t there.
(she / go / out) …………………….
2 You went back to your home town after many years. It wasn’t the same as before.
(it / change / a lot) …………………….
3 I invited Rachel to the party, but she couldn’t come.
(she / arrange / to do something else) …………………….
4 You went to the cinema last night. You got to the cinema late.
(the film / already / start) …………………….
5 It was nice to see Daniel again after such a long time.
(I / not / see / him for five years) …………………….
6 I offered Sue something to eat, but she wasn’t hungry.
(she / just / have / breakfast) …………………….
Answers
1
1 She had gone out.
2 It had changed a lot.
3 She’d arranged to do something else. / She had arranged …
4 The film had already started.
5 I hadn’t seen him for five years.
6 She’d just had breakfast. / She had just had …
Exercise 2
For each situation, write a sentence ending with never … before. Use the verb in brackets.
1 The man sitting next to you on the plane was very nervous. It was his first flight.
(fly) …………………….
2 Somebody sang a song. I didn’t know it.
(hear) I ……………………. before.
3 Sam played tennis yesterday. He wasn’t very good at it because it was his first game.
(play) He …………………….
4 Last year we went to Mexico. It was our first time there.
(be there) We …………………….
Answers
2
1 He’d never flown before.
2 I’d never heard it before. / I had never heard …
3 He’d never played (tennis) before. / He had never played …
4 We’d never been there before. / We had never been …
Exercise 3
Use the sentences on the left to complete the paragraphs on the right. These sentences are in the order in which they happened – so (a) happened before (b), (b) before (c) etc. But your paragraph begins with the underlined sentence, so sometimes you need the past perfect.
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1 (a) Somebody broke into the office during the night. (b) We arrived at work in the morning. (c) We called the police. |
We arrived at work in the morning and found that ……………………. into the office during the night. So ……………………. the police. |
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2 (a) Laura went out this morning. (b) I rang her doorbell. (c) There was no answer. |
I went to Laura’s house this morning and rang her doorbell, but ……………………. no answer. ……………………. out. |
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3 (a) Jim came back from holiday a few days ago. (b) I met him the same day. (c) He looked very well. |
I met Jim a few days ago. ……………………. just ……………………. holiday. ……………………. very well. |
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4 (a) Kevin sent Sally lots of emails. (b) She never replied to them. (c) Yesterday he got a phone call from her. (d) He was very surprised. |
Yesterday Kevin ……………………. from Sally. ……………………. very surprised. ……………………. lots of emails, but ……………………. |
Answers
3
1 we called
2 there was …
She’d gone / She had gone
3 He’d just come back from / He had just come back from …
He looked
4 got a phone call
He was
He’d sent her / He had sent her …
she’d never replied to them / she had never replied to them
Exercise 4
Put the verb into the correct form, past perfect (I had done) or past simple (I did).
1 ‘Was Paul at the party when you arrived?’ ‘No, he ……………………. (go) home.’
2 I felt very tired when I got home, so I ……………………. (go) straight to bed.
3 The house was very quiet when I got home. Everybody ……………………. (go) to bed.
4 Sorry I’m late. The car ……………………. (break) down on my way here.
5 We were driving along the road when we ……………………. (see) a car which ……………………. (break) down, so we ……………………. (stop) to help.
Answers
4
1 had gone
2 went
3 had gone
4 broke
5 saw … had broken … stopped
