English for B2 Students/Unit 8

= The film had already started when we arrived =

Aim of this lesson: Learn about and use the Past Perfect and understand the difference between the tense and Past Simple. Vocabulary that will be taught is related to cinema.

Speaking about films
''Work with a partner, if you can, and ask/answer these questions. If you're on your own you should think about these questions and write your answers instead.''


 * What's your favourite kind of film?
 * What films have you seen this year?
 * Who is your favourite male or female actor?
 * What's the best film you've ever seen?
 * Do you prefer watching films at home or at the cinema?

Grammar - Past Perfect
Past perfect is used in English to indicate that an event occurred before another past event.

Further examples of past simple and past perfect

 * How many hours had you slept for when your alarm clock went off this morning?
 * My mother was angry because I had crashed her car.
 * She didn't realise that she had forgotten her credit card until she got to the cash machine.
 * I had only walked 100 metres when it started raining.

Vocabulary - Entertainment
Look at the table below. Do you know the correct definitions for this vocabulary related to cinema? Click on the 'show' button on the right for the correct answers.

Exercises
Try these questions to see if you know how to use past simple and past perfect correctly. The answers can be found here.

Complete the following sentences using the verb in brackets in the correct form:


 * 1) The burglars ____________ (escape) when the police __________ (arrive).
 * 2) When she __________ (arrive), the party ____________ (finish).
 * 3) When they __________ (get) to the hospital, she __________ (give) birth.
 * 4) Before we __________ (come) to London, we __________ (live) in 10 different cities.
 * 5) He __________ (be) on a plane, so he __________ (be) tired.

Grammar Reference
For further information about using past perfect and past simple see ../Tenses and Forms/.