Perfecting Past Perfect: 3 Fun Exercises For Fluent English

The past perfect tense is a crucial skill of 4 types of past tense to acquire to improve your English writing. However, effectively employing the past perfect tense can be difficult, particularly for non-native speakers. In this post, we’ll provide three exercises to help you confidently use the past perfect tense. Let’s get going and discover the past perfect tense’s potential!

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Exercise 1: Choose the right answer
- Choose the right answerv
Exercise 2: Complete the following sentences using the words given, add a comma between 2 answers for multiple answers
Exercise 3: Rearrange the following words into a complete sentence, conjugation if necessary

Exercise 1: Choose the right answer

Created on June 07, 2023 By

Benjamin Essek

Past Perfect Practice

Choose the right answerv

1 / 20

Ming _____ as a carpenter before he was laid off.

makes

have done

had worked

2 / 20

She ______ Victoria once in 1993 before she moved there in 1996.

have worked

had visited

3 / 20

By the time Maria finished her report, she _______ working on the computer for over three hours.

has being

had been

4 / 20

We _____ that car for ten years before we sold it.

have

did have

had had

5 / 20

We watched TV after our daughter _______ to bed.

had gone

make

have went

6 / 20

Susan was late. By the time she got to school the class _______ already.

have begun

began

had started

7 / 20

I went to work after I _______ my dog.

had walked

cared

have seen

8 / 20

By the time my wife came home, I ______ the laundry

wrote

had done

had made

9 / 20

Frank left the table after he _______ eating.

makes

had done

had finished

10 / 20

Sam washed the car after he ______it with gas.

had filled

have filles

makes

11 / 20

The last time I was there it _________ a very good restaurant.

had been

have been

12 / 20

The teacher corrected the composition I ____.

have wrote

have write

had written

13 / 20

At the party Susan ________ some cake.

have ate

had worked

had eaten

14 / 20

What did Andrew say that he __________ with my CD?

had done

did

had made

15 / 20

The teacher asked why I _______ class early.

have leave

gone

had left

16 / 20

Melissa ate the cake that I ______.

had done

had made

had baked

17 / 20

I realized that I ________ the wrong book from the library.

had taken

took

had missed

18 / 20

Marcia ______ by the time we got there.

leaves

went

had left

19 / 20

Tim wanted to know what _______ to his backpack.

have occured

played

had happened

20 / 20

I was sure that I _______ the woman before.

saw

had seen

have met

Your score is

The average score is 72%

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Exercise 2: Complete the following sentences using the words given, add a comma between 2 answers for multiple answers

Created on June 07, 2023 By

Benjamin Essek

Past Perfect Practice

Complete the following sentences using the words given, add a comma between 2 answers for multiple answers

1 / 20

His old classroom was no longer grey. It __________ (be) painted green.

had been

had be

have been

2 / 20

Before they arrived at the airport, they _______ .. (pay) the taxi driver.

paid

have paid

had paid

3 / 20

When Kathy met Jonathan, he _______ .. (join) the Navy.

had been joined

had joined

have joined

4 / 20

The grass was yellow because it _____________ (not / rain) all summer.

had been rained

had not rained

have not rained

5 / 20

Her bicycle wasn’t there because a friend _______ ..… (take) it without asking her.

have taken

had taken

has taken

6 / 20

My cousin _______ (never/visit) a mine until his father took him one day.

had never visited

had never been visited

have never visited

7 / 20

Leonard didn’t have money for the bus because he _______ . (forget) to ask his mother.

had been forgotten

have forgotten

had forgotten

8 / 20

My father couldn’t find the money because he _______ .. (hide) it in a drawer.

had been hidden

had hidden

have hidden

9 / 20

Our flat was robbed because we _______ . (not lock) the front door.

had not been locked

had not locked

have not locked

10 / 20

The girl felt guilty because she _______ . (drink) all the milk.

have drink

had drunk

had been drunk

11 / 20

By the time the police arrived, the burglar _______ .. (break)into my neighbor’s house.

had broken

have broken

had been broken

12 / 20

Look! Somebody _______ (leave) the windows open.

have left

had left

had leave

13 / 20

Beatriz didn’t pass the test because she _______ .. (not study) at all.

had not studied

had been not studied

had not study

14 / 20

There was a lot of snow outside because it _______ .. (snow) earlier in that day.

had been snowed

have snowed

had snowed

15 / 20

Lorenzo _______ (eat) all the ice cream before I opened the fridge.

had eaten

have eaten

had been eaten

16 / 20

By the time Sonia got to the party, everyone _______ . (begin) dancing.

had began

had begun

have begun

17 / 20

My father bought the new car agivene _______ (try) it a few times.

have tried

had try

had tried

18 / 20

Helen went to bed after she _______ (watch) her favourite TV programme.

had watched

have watched

had watch

19 / 20

Joe Smith went to prison because he _______ (steal) a lot of money.

had stolen

have stolen

had been stolen

20 / 20

The fire _______ (already/reach) the roof by the time the firemen arrived.

have already reached

had already reach

had already reached

Your score is

The average score is 90%

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Exercise 3: Rearrange the following words into a complete sentence, conjugation if necessary

Created on June 07, 2023 By

Benjamin Essek

Past Perfect Practice

Rearrange the following words into a complete sentence, conjugation if necessary

1 / 20

We/TV/our daughter/watched/after/ go to bed

We watched TV after our daughter had gone to bed.

We had watched TV after our daughter had gone to bed.

We watched TV after our daughter went to bed.

2 / 20

Sam/gas/ washed/it/fill/ the car/ after/ he/ with gas

Sam had washed the car after he had filled it with gas

Sam washed the car after he filled it with gas

Sam washed the car after he had filled it with gas

3 / 20

I/the composition/The teacher/ corrected/write

The teacher had corrected the composition I had written

The teacher corrected the composition I had written

The teacher corrected the composition I wrote

4 / 20

Melissa/ the cake/bake/ I/ eat

Melissa ate the cake that I baked

Melissa ate the cake that I had baked

Melissa had eaten the cake that I had baked

5 / 20

I/ be/see/woman/sure/ that/ I/before

I am sure that I had seen the woman before.

I was sure that I had seen the woman before.

I was sure that I saw the woman before.

6 / 20

When/ /finish/dinner,/we/we /went out.

When we finished dinner, we went out

When we had finished dinner, we went out

When we had finished dinner, we had gone out

7 / 20

The robbers/steal/when /all the money /rang/the alarm.

The robbers had stolen all the money when the alarm rang

The robbers had stolen all the money when the alarm had rung

The robbers stole all the money when the alarm rang

8 / 20

at the party/My kids/ didn’t eat/because / anything/ they/ had eaten/dinner/ at home

My kids hadn’t eat at the party because they had eaten dinner at home

My kids didn’t eat at the party because they had eaten dinner at home

My kids didn’t eat at the party because they ate dinner at home

9 / 20

David/When/ came/ everybody/leave

When David had came everybody had left

When David came everybody left

When David came everybody had left

10 / 20

she/After/everything /had explained/ clearly,/ we /our work/start

After she had explained everything clearly, we started our work

After she explained everything clearly, we started our work

After she had explained everything clearly, we had started our work

11 / 20

we/David/arrived/ had gone /home /before

David went home before we arrived

David had gone home before we had arrived

David had gone home before we arrived

12 / 20

could not /I / the song/ we/ learn/remember

I can not remember the song we had learned

I could not remember the song we had learned

I could not remember the song we learned

13 / 20

the nurse/ the/ the plaster /she/ put on /six weeks before/ took off

The nurse takes off the plaster that she had put on six weeks before

The nurse took off the plaster that she put on six weeks before

The nurse took off the plaster that she had put on six weeks before

14 / 20

tent /the/ tornado /the/ we/ build/destroyed/that

The tornado had destroyed the tent that we had built

The tornado destroyed the tent that we had built

The tornado destroyed the tent that we built

15 / 20

she / call / her house / after / broke into / the / someone / in / the police / her.

She called the police after someone had broken into her house

She calls the police after someone had broken into her house

She called the police after someone broke into her house

16 / 20

bring / the post office / here / you / package / you / the / come / before/to?

Had you brought the package to the post office before you had come here?

Had you bring the package to the post office before you came here?

Had you brought the package to the post office before you came here?

17 / 20

go off / the office / we / after / the lights / leave.

We left the office after the lights had gone off

We leave the office after the lights had gone off

We left the office after the lights went off

18 / 20

brief / the clients/objectives / we/he / about / new year’s / before / us / the / before / meet.

He brief us about the objectives before we met the clients on New Year's Day

He briefed us about the objectives before we met the clients on New Year's Day

He brief us about the objectives before we meet the clients on New Year's Day

19 / 20

save / before / he / be able / an early retirement / a lot of / have / money / to / he.

He was able to save a lot of money before he had an early retirement

He would able to save a lot of money before he has an early retirement

He had been able to save a lot of money before he had had an early retirement

20 / 20

an email/sent / a day off / he / before / his boss / take / he / to

He sent an email to his boss before he took a day off

He had sent an email to his boss before he had taken a day off

He sent an email to his boss before he had taken a day off

Your score is

The average score is 75%

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In conclusion, every writer should be proficient in the past perfect tense, an essential component of English grammar. These three exercises offer a strong foundation for comprehending and appropriately using the past perfect tense. Regular practice lets you gain more assurance in your capacity to use this tense successfully. Let’s now examine the past perfect continuous tense exercises in greater detail.

Benjamin Essek

His name is Benjamin Essek – The founder of Grammar Wiki. He is an English native speaker and has joined many English classes, learning communities to support other people with this common language as well.