Intermediate Grammar
Master English grammar one unit at a time. Clear notes, then 40+ interactive exercises with instant feedback — based on the topics in English Grammar in Use (Intermediate).
Past Perfect“I had done” — 44 interactive questions
📖 Grammar Reference — Past Perfect
Study the notes, then work through the six exercises.
A Form — had + past participle (same for everyone)
| + | I had finished. · She ‘d gone home. (‘d = had) |
| − | We hadn’t eaten. · They had not arrived. |
| ? | Had you finished? · Had the train left? |
💡 had never changes for the person — one form fits all subjects. The past participle is the same one you use after have in the present perfect (gone, seen, written, finished…).
B Use — an action before another past moment
First you reach a point in the past. The past perfect says what had already happened earlier, before that point.
📖 We often see it after when, because, by the time, and after: The house was dirty because nobody had cleaned it. · By the time we got there, the shop had closed.
C Past perfect vs past simple — order matters
⚠️ Don’t use the past perfect just because something is “long ago”. Use it only to show one past action came before another. If two things simply happened one after the other in a story, the past simple is enough.
Made with care for English learners · allenglish4u.com
Original practice material inspired by the English Grammar in Use syllabus (Cambridge University Press). Example sentences and exercises are written by All English 4U.