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A2

Past perfect – English Grammar Exercises for A2

7 ejercicios

1. Complete the sentences with the past perfect forms of the verbs in the box.

steal     work     get up     miss     stop     leave     begin     finish
  • 1)
    By the time we got to the station, my sister’s train hadalready left
  • 2)
    When my grandmother phoned, I just doing my homework.
  • 3)
    He really hard at school all year, so he got excellent marks in his exams.
  • 4)
    Anthony arrived late for school this morning because he late.
  • 5)
    When they got to the cinema, the film just .
  • 6)
    When he got back from holiday, he found that someone his car.
  • 7)
    We had to take a taxi home from the station because we the last bus.
  • 8)
    The two men arguing by the time the police arrived.

2. Complete the text with the past simple or past perfect forms of the verbs in brackets.

  • We (1) ) had(have) a terrible journey on the way to Barcelona. The problems (2) ) (begin) when we (3) ) (leave) home at 6.30 in the morning. There (4) ) (be) a huge traffic jam on the motorway because two lorries (5) ) (crash) and the road (6) ) (be) completely blocked.
  • By the time we (7) ) (reach) the airport, we (8) ) (miss) our flight. It (9) ) (take) off five minutes before we (10) ) (arrive) at the check-in desk. We (11) ) (try) to buy some tickets for the next flight to Barcelona, but they (12) ) (sell) all the seats. In the end, we (13) ) (buy) tickets for a flight at 7 o’clock that evening and (14) ) (spend) the whole day at the airport.
  • We (15) ) (land) in Barcelona at 21:45, but we (16) ) (not collect) our suitcases from the arrivals hall until 11 o’clock because there (17) ) (be) a baggage handlers’ strike that day. By the time our taxi driver (18) ) (find) our hotel, the restaurant (19) ) (close), so we (20) ) (go) straight to bed without having dinner.

3. Complete the text with the past perfect form of the verbs in brackets.

  • Staff at a supermarket were surprised to find a tiger in their shop on Monday morning. The tiger (1) ) had gone (go) into the supermarket because it was hungry. It (2) ) (break) the door to get in, but the alarm (3) ) (not go) off because the shop manager (4) ) (forget) to put it on. The tiger (5) ) (make) a terrible mess in the shop. It (6) ) (find) the meat section and it (7) ) (eat) a lot of the meat from the fridges. The police gave the tiger some more meat with a drug in it. When the tiger (8) ) (finish) eating the drugged meat, it fell asleep. Then the police took the tiger back to the zoo. The tiger (9) ) (escape) from the zoo the previous night, after a zoo worker (10) ) (leave) a cage open.

4. Match the sentence halves.

  • 1)
    f.. When she turned on the TV
  • 2)
    Yesterday I found some old pictures
  • 3)
    When I checked my emails after my holiday,
  • 4)
    When I started my meal,
  • 5)
    The flat was dark when we got home
  • 6)
    They didn’t know what to do
  • a everybody else had already finished.
  • b I saw that I’d received over 200!
  • c)
    because they hadn’t listened to the instructions.
  • d because we’d forgotten to leave the light on.
  • e which I’d drawn when I was a child.
  • f)
    the programme had already started.

5. Complete the sentences with one past simple and one past perfect form of the verbs in brackets.

  • 1)
    Nobody came (come) to the meeting because Jed had forgotten (forget) to send the invitations.
  • 2)
    Zofia (arrive) late because her bus (break) down.
  • 3)
    My parents (not go) to Rome before, so they (be) really excited.
  • 4)
    Fred (not do) his homework when the teacher (ask) for it.
  • 5)
    By the time I (find) the website, they (sell) all the tickets.
  • 6)
    The kitchen (be) very messy because I (not have) time to clean up.
  • 7)
    I (never fly) before so I (feel) very nervous.
  • 8)
    (the match / finished) when you (get) there?

6. Which action in the sentences happened first? Write 1 or 2.

  • 1)
    I arrived late for my flight, because I’d written the wrong time in my diary.
  • 2)
    The man had run away by the time the police got there.
  • 3)
    When I saw the questions in the exam, I realised I’d revised the wrong things.
  • 4)
    It had snowed in the night and some of the roads were closed.
  • 5)
    I was tired, because I’d worked so hard the day before.

7. Choose the correct answers.

  • A (1) ) Did you read / Had you read the story about the man who was almost attacked by a shark yesterday?
  • B No, what (2) ) happened / had happened?
  • A He was swimming and he (3) ) saw / had seen a dolphin next to him. Then suddenly, the dolphin (4) ) hit / had hit a shark. The swimmer (5) ) didn’t see / hadn’t seen the shark before the dolphin hit it!
  • B That’s incredible. Well, I (6) ) read / had read another nice animal story. There was a goat that (7) ) looked after / had looked after a farmer for five days. The farmer (8) ) fell / had fallen over and he couldn’t walk or get help.

Cómo Practicar

  1. 1Lee cada pregunta cuidadosamente
  2. 2Escribe tu respuesta o selecciona la opción correcta
  3. 3Haz clic en 'Mostrar Respuesta' para verificar tu trabajo
  4. 4Revisa cualquier error e intenta ejercicios similares
  5. 5Pasa al siguiente ejercicio cuando estés listo

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