Past perfect and Past perfect continuous Past perfect

Past perfect and Past perfect continuous

Past perfect • • 7: 30 am…. I ate a big breakfast 8: 00 am…. 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.