English for Exams Karen Kovacs

3 
Complete the sentences with the past continuous or the past simple of the verbs in 
brackets.
a 
One day, my cousin and 1(1)_____________
[jum p]
up and down on my bed. We
(2 )_____________
[enjoy]
ourselves im m ensely but then my mum (3 )_____________
[w alk]
in and (4)_____________
{tell}
us off.
b 
1(1)_____________(/be) on holiday w ith my fam ily and we (2)_____________
[walk]
along the beach. Suddenly a dog (3)______________ (run) up to us. It
(4)_____________
[bark]
aggressively and we (5)_____________ (be) terrified. My
dad (6)_____________
[try]
to scare it off but it (7)_____________
[bite]
him.
16
We use the past perfect sim ple 
(had
+ past participle) to say something happened before 
som ething else in the past - it is 'm ore past’ . Notice the difference between the following 
two sentences:
When I arrived, m y friend ope ne d h er presents.
( = 
I arrived, then m y friend opened h er 
presents.
The actions are described chronologically.)
When I arrived, m y friend had ope ne d h er presents.
OR 
My friend h ad o pe ne d h er presents 
when I arrived.
( = 
My friend opened h er presents before I a rrived
.)
1 
Find an example in the text in Exercise 12 of the past simple used to describe a single 
action in the past and the past perfect used to describe something ‘more past' than 
that action.
2 There are two possible weak form s of had:
/ h a d / and / a d / . You can also use the 
contraction d.
Practise saying these sentences:
He had