by R. S. Karunaratne

Past perfect tense

We use the past perfect tense when we are already talking about the past, and want to talk about an earlier past time. To make the past perfect tense we use ‘had’ + past participle of the verb.

I had seen the film.
We had seen the film.
You had seen the film.
He had seen the film.
She had seen the film.
They had seen the film.

Contractions

I’d seen the film.
We’d seen the film.
You’d seen the film.
He’d seen the film.
She’d seen the film.
They’d seen the film.

Negatives

I had not (hadn’t) seen the film.
We hadn’t seen the film.
You hadn’t seen the film.
He hadn’t seen the film.
She hadn’t seen the film.
They hadn’t seen the film.

The past perfect tense is used when two activities take place in the past. We use the past perfect tense for the earlier activity and the past tense for the activity that took place later.

We ran to school as we were late but the classes had already begun.

I went home early but everybody had gone out.
Suramya was happy that she had caught the earliest train.
The principal couldn’t understand why the watcher hadn’t locked the gate.
Grandfather had never travelled by plane before he went to India last week.
I didn’t have much money left after I had paid my college fees.

We use the past perfect tense to show that something is completely finished.

When I had done all much homework, I sat down and had a cup of coffee.
When Susila had done her cooking, she watched her favourite video.
Nayana phoned her mother when she had done her violin practice.
When Padma had finished reading the novel, she gave it to Lilian.
Amanda had a shower when she had done all the household work.

[Activity]

Fill in the blanks with the simple past tense or the past perfect tense of the verbs given in brackets. Check your answers with the key.

1.The robber .......the police how he ......access to the safe. (tell / gain)
2. Saman ........... to Japan last week. Before that he ............never ........... outside Sri Lanka. (go / be)
3. When Doreen ..... home, her children .....all the ice cream.(go / eat)
4. Yesterday I ............ a man who ............ never ............ to school. (meet / be)
5. It ..........to rain and I ............. that I ............... my umbrella. (began / remember / bring)
6. Yesterday I ........... a letter from a man I ........... never .......... (receive / meet)
7. I ............ Ranjan I couldn’t come for the film show but he ........... already ........... the tickets. (tell / buy)
8. When Eva ............. her work, she ............ down to watch television. (finish / sit)
9. When Anoma ............ off the light in the room, she ...... the door. (turn / lock)
10. When Garry ........... his homework, he .......... for a walk. (do / go)

Key:

1. The robber told the police how he had gained access to the safe.
2. Saman went to Japan last week. Before that he had never been outside Sri Lanka.
3. When Doreen went home, her children had eaten all the ice cream.
4. Yesterday I met a man who had never been to school.
5. It began to rain and I remembered that I hadn’t brought my umbrella.
6. Yesterday I received a letter from a man I had never met.
7. I told Ranjan I couldn’t come for the film show but he had already bought the tickets.
8. When Eva had finished her work, she sat down to watch television.
9. When Anoma had turned off the light in the room, she locked the door.
10. When Garry had done his homework, he went for a walk.

Starters:

How to use determiners

[Part 2]

‘The’ is used with unique objects, points of the compass and certain time expressions.
The sun rises in the east.
I cannot forget the past.

The unique objects: The moon, the earth, the world, the sky
We use ‘the’ with points of the compass: the north, the south, the east, the west.
I was driving towards the north.
But: I was driving north.

We say the past, the present and the future.
But: What are you doing at present? (Now or at this time)
In future / in the future
I'll be more careful in future. (From now on)
In the future we may live on the Mars. (Not from now on)
General and specific uses of ‘the’
Women love flowers. (General)
She loved the flowers I gave her. (Specific)
Tea gives you instant energy. (General)
The tea in this pack is of poor quality. (Specific)
Life / the life
Life in the up-country is exciting.
Modern life depends on technology.
Mother Teresa's life was dedicated to help the poor.
The life of our older generation is quite different from that we lead today.

This / that / these / those
‘This’ and ‘that’ are used with singular subjects.
This shirt fits you well.
That bicycle over there is mine.

‘These’ and ‘those’ are used with plural subjects.
These books belong to me.
Can you see those beautiful clouds?

Note: We use ‘this’ for a thing or person that is near. We use ‘that’ for a thing or person that is far away.

We use ‘these’ for more than one thing or people that are near. We use ‘those’ for more than one thing or people that are far away.
Much / many / a lot of
We use ‘much’ with uncountable or mass nouns.
Do not consume too much of sugar.
There isn't much ink in this bottle.

Other uncountable or mass nouns: air, help, bread, furniture, grass, water, oil, hair, information, money, news, weather, work, milk.
We use ‘many’ with plural count nouns.
Father bought many apples and a pineapple.
There were many Bhikkhus at the temple.
Mother bought a lot of potatoes.
Some / any
We use ‘some’ and ‘any’ with plural count nouns.
I borrowed some books from the library.
Do you have any books on economics?
Sam came home with some of his friends.
Jaya doesn't have any friends.

We also use ‘some’ and ‘any’ with mass nouns.
She ate a slice of bread and drank some milk.
Did he give you any money?
Few / little
‘Few’ and ‘little’ have negative meanings.
There ere very few tourists at Sigiriya.
There was very little time to answer all the questions.

A few / a little
‘A few’ and ‘a little’ have positive meanings.
Nalir has a few friends. (Not many)
I drank a little milk. (Not much).

Match words and meanings

Here’s an interesting quiz to enrich your vocabulary. Match the words in column ‘A’ with their meanings in Column ‘B’ and check your answers with the key. The first one has been done for you.

[Column A ]

T 1. await
....2. Awake
.... 3. Awe
.... 4. Awesome
.... 5. Awful
.... 6. Awning
.... 7. Axiom
.... 8. Axis
.... 9. Axle
.... 10. Azure

.... 11. Babble
.... 12. Babe
.... 13. Babel
.... 14. Baboon
.... 15. Babysit
.... 16. Bachelor
.... 17. Backache
.... 18. Backbiting
.... 19. Backdoor
.... 20. Backer

.... 21. Backhoe
.... 22. Backwoods
.... 23. Backyard
.... 24. Badinage
.... 25. Bailiff

[Column B]

A. a feeling of great respect and liking for somebody or something
B. somebody who looks after a farm that›elongs to someone else
C. difficult to understand
D. baby
E. to take care of children while their parents are away for a short time
F. a small area behind a house
G. a pain in your back
H. having a bright blue colour
I. a distant and undeveloped area away from any towns
J. a large digging machine used for making roads
K. a large monkey living in Africa
L. a rule that is generally considered to be true
M. a man who has never married

N. not sleeping
O. somebody who supports a plan
P. a sheet of material outside a shop to keep off the sun and the rain
Q. conversation that involves a lot of jokes or humour
R. secret
S. the imaginary line around the earth
T. to wait for something
U. the confusing sound of many voices talking together
V. very bad or unpleasant
W. unpleasant talk about somebody who is not present
X. the bar connecting two wheels on a car
Y. extremely impressive

Key:

2. N 3. A 4. Y 5. V 6. P 7. L 8. S 9. X 10. H 11. C 12. D 13. U 14. K 15. E 16. M 17. G 18. W 19. R 20. O 21. J 22. I 23. F 24. Q 25. B