Exercise 1
Test 1. Past perfect simple or continuous? Choose the correct tense.
Past perfect simple and continuous exercises with answers, pdf worksheets and grammar rules.
Past perfect simple and past perfect continuous
We use the past perfect simple and continuous to talk about activities that ended or were in progress before a point in time in the past.
Past perfect simple
The past perfect simple describes actions that were completed before:
a) A point in time in the past.
I had left my suitcase on the 10.15 train to Bristol.
Lara had learned to speak Spanish by the time she was eleven.
b) Another event in the past.
We had left before the party started.
Harry met Sally on his holiday in Poland. He had last seen her a year before.
The man died because a car had hit him on the road.
Past perfect continuous
We use the past perfect continuous to refer to activities that:
a) Started before a point in time and were still continuing at that point.
At 6 p.m. I had been sitting in my office for ten hours.
We had been waiting for our plane since the morning when Josh appeared.
b) Started before a point in time and just finished at that point.
When the boat landed, they had been sailing for a week.
When I got back home, I was soaked to the skin because it had been raining all the way.
Note:
We can sometimes use both the past perfect simple and continuous and there is practically no difference in meaning (with verbs expressing long lasting activities, such as live, stay work, sleep).
I had worked there for a year when I decided to quit the job.
I had been working there for a year when I decided to quit the job.