Past Perfect for Earlier Events

Start with the sense verb sheet, then teach the perfect tenses in the order future, past and present. Use the timeline on the past perfect sheet and the time words on the last sheet as reference while students work.

Use had plus a past participle to show which past event came first, from wilting crops to a movie. Picture a timeline. When two events are both in the past, the past perfect, had plus a past participle, marks the one that happened first. The directions on the page read: Each sentence has two past events. Write the verb in parentheses in the past perfect tense on the blank to show the event that happened first. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 7th grade verbs, and it works the same at home or at school. At home, a student can work through it alone and then go over it with you, which shows quickly what is solid and what needs another look. In class it works as independent practice, homework or a warm-up, and you can print one copy or a full set.

Try swapping in seemed or seems. If the sentence still makes sense, the verb is linking, as in The soup tasted salty. If not, it shows action, as in Chef Laurent tasted the sauce. Action or Linking With Sense Verbs has students label sentences this way.

Use will have plus a past participle to show an action that will be finished by a stated time, usually after the word by. Future Perfect by a Deadline gives eight deadline sentences, such as By sunrise, the bakers will have baked three hundred loaves.

Use had plus a past participle for the event that happened first when two events are both in the past. Past Perfect for Earlier Events shows this on a timeline with Mina had eaten lunch before she went outside.

Use the simple past with a finished time such as yesterday or in 1998. Use the present perfect with time that reaches the present, such as since, for, so far or already. Present Perfect or Simple Past? has students circle the form in each sentence.