27581 past perfect past simple or past continuous

Notes

Complete the story, writing the correct tense
and form of the verbs between brackets

The Past Perfect Tense

A Rainforest Adventure

Form:
Affirmative: subject + had + past participle
I had finished my homework when she arrived.
Negative: subject + hadn’t + past participle.
She was hungry because she hadn’t had lunch.
Interrogative: Had + subject + past participle
Had she studied French before she went to
Paris ?

Last summer, four friends – Tom, Jack, Sally and
Samantha - ............................... 1 (travel) with their
families to the Amazon rainforest on holiday. The
teenagers
................................................. 2(not be
supposed) to walk through the forest on their own
but they ........................................ 3 ( not resist)
having a rainforest adventure!

Use:

They ...................................4(set) off early in the

We use the Past Perfect to express:

morning with a pair of binoculars, a matchbox, a

1 Something that had happened before
something else took place.
When I got home, he had already left.

camera, a torch, some sandwiches and some water
in their rucksacks. At the last minute, Sally and
Samantha

......................

5

(decide)

not

to

go,

because they ............................... (think) they’d get
6

(* we use the Past Simple in the second action ).
2 A past situation with a hypothetical
result (Conditional 3).

If I had known you were coming, I
I would have made a cake.
3. We often use by the time, when, before,
after, as soon as to make sentences with the
Past Simple and the Past Perfect.
Past Simple

too tired.
Tom .........................................

photos while Jack .......... ........................... 8(try) to
observe the birds and animals with his binoculars.
Under a huge old tree, they ................... 9(find) a
canoe that ................................................... 10(certainly
be) there for a long time because it was covered
with a heap of dry branches and leaves. The boys

Use the past simple to talk about activities
which took place at a specified time in the past
(the time may be clear or implied in the
context.)
Did you meet him last week?
I saw your sister at the party two weeks ago.
. We didn’t know the answer to question n.2.

.............................

Past Continuous

strange sounds

Use the Past Continuous

(take) landscape

7

they

11

(have)

so

much fun that

...............................................................12(complet

ely forget)

to mark their

They ...............................

13

way on the map.

(see) so many beautiful

birds and noisy monkeys leaping from branch to
branch,

they

(walk)
They

...................................14(hear)

such

as they .......................................

through

the

15

forest!

................................................

16

(never

1 for a longer action in the past

They were travelling around the world for
most of the year in 2010.

experience) anything like that before. At about

2 actions that were in progress when another
action was completed.
They were staying at a five star hotel when
they threw the fruit pies at one another.

18

midday, the boys ........................

17

(be) hungry and

thirsty. That was when they....................................
(remember)

that

the

girls ............................... (put) the sandwiches in
19

their rucksacks.
Now, with no mobile phones

and

anything to eat, what would they do?

without


Part 3

Part 2
The

Tom and Jack ................................
20
21

woman

.........................40

(continue) walking but they ................

soon .....................

( be) tired and worried.

and sweets. She ..................

Jack .....................

22

(do) what he could

(go)

out

and

(come) back with some fruit

41

(put) an oil lamp

42

on a small table and ..........................

(offer)

43

to show optimism. ‘ Look! If we take

them some coconut water. The boys ................44

that track, we’ll get back in no time!

(be) too tired. They ......................

It’s a shortcut to the village′, he said.

and

...................

sun

.............

Time .............................

23

the boys ..........................

(go) by and
24

(not know)

what to do. It ...............................

up

46

when

the

...................... (rise).

A

47

cock .....................................
48

(crow) as the nice old couple ...................

(walk)

25

(wake)

(fall) asleep

45

to

the

spot

the

(get) darker and darker and they still

boys

couldn’t see the lights of the village.

boat the day before. The boys and the old

′Don’t you think we should camp under

couple

that tree and wait till dawn to go on? ′,

it, ...............................

Tom asked. ′I think you’re right, Tom’,

heads and .............................

Jack answered. ′If we ..........................

river. Then, they ..........................

26

(help) the girls pack our things, we

..............................

where

49

(see) an old wooden

50

..............................
52

51

(raise) it above their
53

(carry) it to the
54

boys

forest′, he added.

boatyard

................................55(arrive)

(not

talk) about their fears, they .............
28

the
their

56

(wait) for

them. ′Thank goodness, you’re safe!′, Jack’s
father

...........................

boat ..................................

(be) totally confused. While

at

where

families .............................................
Although they .................................

(row) down

the winding river. Half an hour later, the

wouldn’t have ended up starving in the

27

(lift)

57
58

(shout)

as

the

(get) near the shore.

they ..................................... .........................

′And thank you for helping our boys′, their

............. (prepare) to lie down under a

mothers

big tree and spend the night in the

simply................................ (smile) and .....................

darkness of the forest, Tom ..................

60

29

30

(see) lights twinkling in a small

wooden house built on stilts by the
river. The boys .....................

31

(look) at

each other and ...........................

32

(start)

to run down the path. Before long,
they ...................... ......................33(knock
) at the little house door. An old couple
.................................................
34

(answer) it, ...........................35 (smile)

at them, but they couldn’t understand
their language. Even so, they must have
understood that they
boys ............................... 36 ( get) lost in
the forest. So
they ..................................37 (invite) them
to go in with a wave and a smile. The
old lady ...................................

38

(open) a

room door and .................. (show) them
39

some mats where they could sit.

said

to

the

old

couple.

59

(wave) at the people around them

They


KEY
PART 1

PART 2

TRAVELLED

CONTINUED

1

WEREN’T SUPPOSED
DIDN’T RESIST
SET OFF

4

DECIDED

5

THOUGHT

PART 3

WERE

2

DID

3

21

WENT 23

7

HAD HELPED

WAS TRYING

8

DIDN’T TALK
WERE

HAD CERTAINLY BEEN
WERE HAVING

SAW

11

HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN
HAD SEEN
HAD HEARD

WERE WALKING

HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED
WERE 17
REMEMBERED
HAD PUT

18

19

29

45

46

WALKED

LIFTED

31

47

34

33

50

51

52

CARRIED
ROWED

48

49

RAISED

32

SMILED35

16

44

HAD SEEN

ANSWERED

15

FELL

43

WAS CROWING

WERE KNOCKING

14

42

WAS RISING

27

30

STARTED

13

41

WOKE

28

LOOKED

12

25

26

WERE PREPARING

10

CAME

WERE

24

It WAS GETTING

9

40

OFFERED

DIDN’T KNOW

6

WENT

PUT

22

WAS TAKING

FOUND

20

53

54

ARRIVED

55

HAD GOT

36

WERE WAITING

INVITED

37

SHOUTED

OPENED

38

WAS GETTING

SHOWED

39

SMILED

56

57

58

59

WAVED60
*The

passage was based on an extra activity for Lesson 4C in
Redston C. et al. Face2Face Intermediate – Teacher’s Book- p. 144,
C.U.P.,2007.