(( 1. Why are you late? I (wait) here for two hours. a) have been waiting b) waited c) will have been waiting d) was waiting 2. Mary went shopping after she (finish) the washing up. a) finished b) would finish c) was finishing d) has finished 3. Mary (save up) to go on holiday so she spends as little money as possible. a) have saved up b) will save up c) had been saving up d) saves up 4. By the end of this century, we (use up) most of the world`s oil supplies. a) have used up b) will be using up c) will have used up d) used up 5. Goodnight, I (go) to bed. a) went b) am going c) will have gone d) will have been going 6. Douglas ( to be awarded) the first prize last year. a) was awarded b) would be awarded c) had been awarded d) would have been awarded 7. Margery (wait) for four hours before she returned to the hotel. a) was waiting b) has been waiting c) had been waiting d) would wait 8. Odette (finish) her book before she returns to Dunkirk. a) will have finished b) would be finished c) has finished d) would finish 9. Juliana (drink) whisky when Jonathan met her. a) drinks b) will drink c) was drinking d) drank 10. I ( read) from 9 a.m. till 11 a.m. tomorrow. a) will have read b) will be reading c) am reading d) read

Time up to a point in the past

We use the past perfect simple (had + past participle) to talk about time up to a certain point in the past.

She'd published her first poem by the time she was eight.

We'd finished all the water before we were halfway up the mountain.

Had the parcel arrived when you called yesterday?

Past perfect for the earlier of two past actions

We can use the past perfect to show the order of two past events. The past perfect shows the earlier action and the past simple shows the later action.

When the police arrived, the thief had escaped.

It doesn't matter in which order we say the two events. The following sentence has the same meaning.

The thief had escaped when the police arrived.

Note that if there's only a single event, we don't use the past perfect, even if it happened a long time ago.

The Romans spoke Latin. (NOT The Romans had spoken Latin.)

Past perfect with before

We can also use the past perfect followed by before to show that an action was not done or was incomplete when the past simple action happened.

They left before I'd spoken to them.

Sadly, the author died before he'd finished the series.

Adverbs

We often use the adverbs already (= 'before the specified time'), still (= as previously), just (= 'a very short time before the specified time'), ever (= 'at any time before the specified time') or never (= 'at no time before the specified time') with the past perfect.

I called his office but he'd already left.

It still hadn't rained at the beginning of May.

I went to visit her when she'd just moved to Berlin.

It was the most beautiful photo I'd ever seen.

Had you ever visited London when you moved there?

I'd never met anyone from California before I met Jim.

Do this exercise to test your grammar again. 1a2b3a4d5a6a7b8a9b

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