The Past Perfect (A)
The form of the past perfect
Alice had enrolled for an evening class before she checked her diary.
Had she paid for the course at that point, do you know?
She had signed a cheque, but fortunately she had not sent it.
We use the past perfect when we are already talking about the past, and want to talk about an earlier past for a moment:
- When we arrived in Southampton the ferry had already left.
- They told me they had lost their luggage.
- I rang my bank – I hadn’t realised they had not received my letter.
- We were concerned that neither Caroline nor Alistair had written to us.
We often use ‘when‘ and ‘after‘ to show that something was completely finished:
- When she found out she had not got the job, she sat down and cried.
- It started to rain straight after Dave had washed the car!
1. [Match]
Can you join these beginnings and ends to make logical sentences?
(Vocabulary
make a point of + …ing – make a special effort to ….
eg I made a point of listening to her side of the story = I was careful to / I made a particular effort to make sure I listened to her version of events.
have a real eye for sth – to have a genuine talent for sth / have sound judgement on some matter
eg She has a real eye for what will sell.
a money-spinner – an activity / venture which makes a good profit
)
Answers for Quiz [1].
- 1. by people in the tailoring business. (correct)
- 2. a point of explaining how their family business worked.
(correct) - 3. which workers had shown him over the years. (correct)
- 4. already begun to dream of setting up his own business one day. (correct)
- 5. more than ready to make his first man’s suit. (correct)
- 6. they realised he had a real eye for detail. (correct)
- 7. at the range of skills he had mastered. (correct)
- 8. had not spent enough time learning the basics of marketing. (correct)
- 9. make finance and marketing his top priority. (correct)
- 10. a business loan to enable him to set up on his own. (correct)
- 11. had come!
(correct) - 12. not only a real passion – but a potential money-spinner, too! (correct)