Complete the story, writing the correct tense

Notes and form of the verbs between brackets

The Past Perfect Tense

A Rainforest Adventure
Form:
Last summer, four friends – Tom, Jack, Sally and
Affirmative: subject + had + past participle
Samantha - ............................... 1 (travel) with their
I had finished my homework when she arrived.
families to the Amazon rainforest on holiday. The
Negative: subject + hadn’t + past participle. teenagers ................................................. 2(not be
She was hungry because she hadn’t had lunch.
supposed) to walk through the forest on their own
Interrogative: Had + subject + past participle
Had she studied French before she went to but they ........................................ 3 ( not resist)
Paris ? 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
camera, a torch, some sandwiches and some water
1 Something that had happened before
in their rucksacks. At the last minute, Sally and
something else took place.
5
When I got home, he had already left. Samantha ...................... (decide) not to go,
6
because they ............................... (think) they’d get
(* we use the Past Simple in the second action ).
too tired.
2 A past situation with a hypothetical
result (Conditional 3). Tom ......................................... 7
(take) landscape
If I had known you were coming, I
I would have made a cake. photos while Jack .......... ........................... 8(try) to
observe the birds and animals with his binoculars.
3. We often use by the time, when, before,
Under a huge old tree, they ................... 9(find) a
after, as soon as to make sentences with the
Past Simple and the Past Perfect. canoe that ................................................... 10(certainly
be) there for a long time because it was covered
Past Simple
with a heap of dry branches and leaves. The boys
11
Use the past simple to talk about activities ............................. (have) so much fun that they
which took place at a specified time in the past 12
............................................................... (completely
(the time may be clear or implied in the
context.)
forget) to mark their way on the map. They
13
Did you meet him last week? ............................... (see) so many beautiful birds
I saw your sister at the party two weeks ago. and noisy monkeys leaping from branch to branch,
. We didn’t know the answer to question n.2.
they ...................................14(hear) such strange
15
Past Continuous sounds as they ....................................... (walk)
through the forest! They
Use the Past Continuous
16
................................................ (never experience)
1 for a longer action in the past anything like that before. At about midday, the
They were travelling around the world for 17
boys ........................ (be) hungry and thirsty. That
most of the year in 2010.
18
was when they.................................... (remember)
2 actions that were in progress when another that the girls 19
............................... (put) the
action was completed.
They were staying at a five star hotel when
sandwiches in their rucksacks.
they threw the fruit pies at one another.
Now, with no mobile phones and without
anything to eat, what would they do?

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 Part 2 Part 3

Tom and Jack ................................ The woman .........................40 (go) out and soon
20 41
(continue) walking but they ................ ..................... (come) back with some fruit and
21 42
( be) tired and worried. Jack sweets. She .................. (put) an oil lamp on a
22 43
..................... (do) what he could to small table and .......................... (offer) them
show optimism. ‘ Look! If we take that some coconut water. The boys ................44 (be)
45
track, we’ll get back in no time! It’s a too tired. They ...................... (fall) asleep and
46
shortcut to the village′, he said. ................... (wake) up when the sun .............
47
...................... (rise). A cock .....................................
23 48 49
Time ............................. (go) by and (crow) as the nice old couple ...................
24 (walk) to the spot where the boys
the boys .......................... (not know)
25 50
what to do. It ............................... .............................. (see) an old wooden boat the
(get) darker and darker and they still day before. The boys and the old couple
51 52
couldn’t see the lights of the village. .............................. (lift) it, ...............................
′Don’t you think we should camp under (raise) it above their heads and .............................
53
that tree and wait till dawn to go on? ′, (carry) it to the river. Then, they
54
Tom asked. ′I think you’re right, Tom’, .......................... (row) down the winding river.
Jack answered. ′If we .......................... Half an hour later, the boys
26 55
(help) the girls pack our things, we ................................ (arrive) at the boatyard
wouldn’t have ended up starving in the where their families .............................................
56
forest′, he added. (wait) for them. ′Thank goodness, you’re
57
safe!′, Jack’s father ........................... (shout)
27 58
Although they ................................. (not as the boat .................................. (get) near the
talk) about their fears, they ............. shore. ′And thank you for helping our boys′,
28 their mothers said to the old couple. They
(be) totally confused. While they
..................................... simply................................59(smile) and .....................
60
......................................29(prepare) to lie (wave) at the people around them
down under a big tree and spend the
night in the darkness of the forest,
30
Tom .................. (see) lights twinkling
in a small wooden house built on stilts
31
by the river. The boys .....................
(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 ..................39
(show) them some mats where they
could sit.

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KEY
PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

TRAVELLED 1 CONTINUED 20
WENT 40

WEREN’T SUPPOSED 2 WERE 21 CAME 41

DIDN’T RESIST 3 DID 22

PUT 42

SET OFF 4 WENT 23 OFFERED 43

5 24
DECIDED DIDN’T KNOW WERE 44

THOUGHT 6 It WAS GETTING 25

FELL 45

WAS TAKING 7 HAD HELPED 26 WOKE 46

WAS TRYING 8 DIDN’T TALK 27

WAS RISING 47

FOUND 9 WERE 28
WAS CROWING 48

10
HAD CERTAINLY BEEN WERE PREPARING 29 WALKED 49

11 30
WERE HAVING SAW HAD SEEN 50

12
HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN LOOKED 31 LIFTED 51

13
HAD SEEN STARTED 32 RAISED 52

14 33 53
HAD HEARD WERE KNOCKING CARRIED

15
WERE WALKING ANSWERED 34 ROWED 54

16
HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED SMILED35 ARRIVED 55

WERE 17 HAD GOT 36 WERE WAITING 56

18
REMEMBERED INVITED 37 SHOUTED 57

HAD PUT 19 OPENED 38

WAS GETTING 58

39
SHOWED SMILED 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.

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