Using the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense is used to express action completed in the past:

"She had eaten is an example of the tense."

The past perfect tense represents action that occurs BEFORE another past action:

"My boss had gone before I had the chance to see him."

How to Form the Past Perfect Tense

The past perfect tense uses had + the past participle of the main verb

"She had never tried surfing before she visited Australia."

"He had already paid for lunch before I got my wallet out."

"We had never tasted anything like it."

"James had cleaned his room before his parents could ask him to."

Contracted Forms of Had

To make your English more natural when speaking use these contracted forms of had.

I'd - I had
You'd - You had
He'd - He had
She'd - she had
It'd - It had
We'd - we had
They'd - they had

Now decide the best choice to complete each sentence:

• 1) They __ read the news before I met them.
  
  has
  having
  had
  
  
• 2) After I had ___ all my breakfast, I had a shower.
  
  eating
  eaten
  eats
  
  
• 3) I wish I had ___ old enough.
  
  be
  was
  been
  
  
• 4) They had __ visited Spain before.
  
  hadn't
  not
  no
  
  
• 5) We realised she had been ___ too much.
  
  work
  worked
  working