Question

Put the verbs in brackets into the Past Perfect Simple or Past Perfect Continuous. 1) By the time we got to the cinema, the film................ (already/start). 2) She let me use her camera after she............ (show) me how to use it. 3) Henrietta .......... (travel) for three days before she reached her destination. 4) Mark ............. (type) for so long that his fingers hurt. 5) He ............. (save) up for months before he bought a car. 6) The team ................ (practise) for the big match since January. 7) She left the room only after she ...............(look) everywhere for her missing bracelet. 8) She .............. (leave) before Paul arrived.​

Answer 1

1) By the time we got to the cinema, the film had already started.

2) She let me use her camera after she had shown me how to use it.

3) Henrietta had been travelling for three days before she reached her destination.

4) Mark had been typing for so long that his fingers hurt.

5) He had been saving up for months before he bought a car.

6) The team had been practising for the big match since January.

7) She left the room only after she had looked everywhere for her missing bracelet.

8) She had left before Paul arrived.​

Answer 2

To form the Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous tenses, we use the past participle for the simple form and "had been" + the present participle for the continuous form. Let's put the verbs in brackets into the appropriate forms:

1) By the time we got to the cinema, the film had already started. (Past Perfect Simple) 2) She let me use her camera after she had shown me how to use it. (Past Perfect Simple) 3) Henrietta had been traveling for three days before she reached her destination. (Past Perfect Continuous) 4) Mark had been typing for so long that his fingers hurt. (Past Perfect Continuous) 5) He had saved up for months before he bought a car. (Past Perfect Simple) 6) The team had been practicing for the big match since January. (Past Perfect Continuous) 7) She left the room only after she had looked everywhere for her missing bracelet. (Past Perfect Simple) 8) She had left before Paul arrived. (Past Perfect Simple)

These sentences are now in the appropriate past perfect tenses.