Past Simple or Past Perfect?

These two tenses are both used to talk about things that happened in the past. However we use past perfect to talk about something that happened before another action in the past, which is usually expressed by the past simple.

For example:

"I had already eaten my dinner when he called."
In other words, First I ate my dinner, then he called.
The past perfect is often used with already, yet, just and even.

In the following sentences, do we need the past simple form of the verb, or the past perfect? The first two questions should remind you when we use each tense.

Note on questions 3 & 6: There is a possibility of both being correct BUT as we have two actions in the past and the homework happened first, it is better to use past perfect

Today's lesson is by Caroline

Start your journey to success, learn English abroad with EC. 

• 1. I can't believe she ___ my sandwich!
  
  had eaten
  ate
  
  
• 2. I couldn't believe she ___ my sandwich!
  
  ate
  had eaten
  
  
• 3. He ___ his homework so he was allowed to eat with us.
  
  did
  had done
  
  
• 4. I ___ of going to Italy before she suggested it.
  
  didn't think
  hadn't thought
  
  
• 5. What ___ today?
  
  did you do
  had you done
  
  
• 6. We ___ all our water before we realised there wasn't any left.
  
  drank
  had drunk
  
  
• 7. We ___ the test when she told us there wasn't any time left!
  
  hadn't even started
  didn't even start
  
  
• 8. My dog ripped my dress! I was so upset, I ___ it!
  
  just bought
  had just bought
  
  
• 9. My Dad ___ to the supermarket this morning to buy some milk.
  
  had gone
  went
  
  
• 10. I ___ for my exam all morning so I was really upset when I didn't do well.
  
  hadn't revised
  revised