Language focus: Past perfect

Study these sentences from the text. Then choose the correct options to complete the rules.

1. Had bicycles been an important means for many years before the advent of motorised vehicles?

2. They had played an essential role in Vietnamese daily life by the mid-20th century.

3. The motor vehicles on the roads had not increased dramatically until the 1990s.

RULES

1. The past perfect describes a past action or event that took place before / after another past action or event.

2. We form the past perfect with was / had + a past participle.

3. We use not or never to make affirmative / negative sentences.

4. The question form is auxiliary verb + subject + infinitive / past participle.

Choose the correct options.

1. After Tom read / had read the email, he turned off / had turned off his computer.

2. Did Jane learn / Had Jane learnt to read and write before she started / had started school?

3. We didn’t have / hadn’t had a foreign holiday until last summer.

4. We were / had been tired because we played / had played football all afternoon.

5. I visited / had visited five cities in southern Việt Nam by 2001.

Complete the sentences with the past perfect form of the verbs in brackets.

1. They _____ (never / play) football until last week.

2. _____ (you / buy) a ticket before you arrived at the station?

3. I was sad because she _____ (forget) my birthday.

4. _____ (he / leave) the house when you called?

5. The children _____ (not / do) their homework, so they were in trouble.

 USE IT! Work in pairs. Take turns to say what you think had happened before each situation.

1. Peter apologised to his brother.

Perhaps they had had an argument.

2. Anna didn’t go to the cinema with her friends.

3. When Sally met her father at the station, she didn’t recognise him.

4. George was late for school on Tuesday.

5. Ben and Helen were very excited.