Five consecutive exercises. The fourth one is a writing exercise and the fifth one is a speaking exercise, and they are the ones that really count: the first three only check that the pieces are in place. If when narrating out loud, everything comes out in the simple past tense, the story will be correct but flat, which is exactly what this unit aims to correct.
1. Listen to the entire recording and organize what you hear by levels: what happened, what had happened before, and what had been happening.
- What is the main plot twist?
- What had occurred two hours earlier?
- What had been happening since the previous night?
- What had no one in line done?
- What did the local driver offer?
- What had happened already when they crossed?
Show answers
- They reached the border crossing at four
- The officials had closed it
- It had been raining steadily
- Nobody had brought enough food or water
- To take them round by the old road
- The sun had gone down
2. Put each verb in the tense required by the time frame.
- When we arrived, the guide ___ (already, go) home.
- My boots were soaked because I ___ (walk) through the river.
- After we ___ (pay) the driver, we set off again.
- She said she ___ (never, travel) alone before that year.
- By the time the bus came, we ___ (wait) for three hours.
- We got up, packed the tent and ___ (leave) at dawn.
Show answers
- had already gone
- had been walking
- paid
- had never travelled
- had been waiting
- left
3. Complete with a word or expression from lesson two. Do not repeat any.
- Our hotel booking ___ two days before we left.
- We ___ at five in the morning to avoid the traffic.
- The village was completely ___ and we saw no other tourists.
- Apart from one small ___ , the whole thing went smoothly.
- We ___ sleeping in the station, which nobody had planned.
- ___ on it now, that was the best week of the year.
Show answers
- fell through
- set off
- off the beaten track
- hitch
- ended up
- Looking back
Write between 120 and 150 words recounting a trip that went wrong. Start with the worst moment, not the departure: that will force you to use the past perfect to explain how you got there.
- Open with the worst moment, in the past simple
- Explain what had happened before, in the past perfect
- Add what had been going on, in the continuous
- Use at least four expressions from lesson two
- Close by looking back on it from today
Show answers
- A first sentence in the simple past is expected to set the scene, such as "At two in the morning we were standing at a closed border crossing". Starting with the chronological beginning invalidates the exercise.
- At least two past events are expected with "had" plus participle, for example "The officials had closed the crossing" and "Nobody had warned us".
- The past perfect continuous is used to show duration or explain a state: «It had been raining since the previous night» or «We had been driving for eleven hours».
- Four of these are expected: set off, fall through, end up, off the beaten track, a hitch, a setback, go smoothly, look back on.
- A conclusive remark of the type "Looking back on it, I would do the same thing again" is expected, which brings the story back to the present.
5. Out loud and recording yourself. Tell the same story in two minutes, without reading what you've written.
- Set the scene at the worst moment
- Step back one plane and explain the cause
- Say how long something had been going on
- Describe how it was resolved
- Say what you would do differently now
Show answers
- Their own answer. Simple past and past continuous are expected together, of the type “It was getting dark and we were still waiting”.
- Their own response. «had» must appear with a participle; if the entire explanation is in the simple past, the listener will place the facts in the wrong order.
- Their own answer. The past perfect continuous is expected with «for» or «since», such as «We had been waiting since noon».
- Her own response. Back to the thread in the simple past tense, with phrasal verbs such as «we ended up» or «it turned out».
- Their own response. A conditional closure is expected, such as "I would book the connection myself next time".
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