Students often find it difficult to use the simple past and past perfect tenses correctly. The simple past tense is the most common tense used to talk about past events. The past perfect tense is used to refer to the ‘earlier’ of two past actions. It is also used in reported speech. We do not normally use the past perfect tense in other cases. For example, we do not normally use the past perfect tense to say that something happened sometime ago. That idea is always expressed with the simple past tense.

Test your knowledge of the simple past and past perfect tense with this grammar test. Each question is followed by two suggested answers. Choose the most appropriate one.

1. I ……………………………………. to Thailand recently. (went / had been)

2. I …………………………………….. a letter to him last week. (wrote / had written)

3. We ……………………………………..  to the theatre last night. (went / had gone)

4. He said that he …………………………………… from fever for two days. (was suffering / had been suffering)

5. The patient …………………………………………… before the doctor arrived. (died / had died)

6. The man complained that his car ……………………………………. (was stolen / had been stolen)

7. The doctor concluded that the man ……………………………………………. ten hours ago. (was killed / had been killed)

8. When I saw him he …………………………………………. writing a story. (was / had been)

9. When I visited him he ………………………………………. bed-ridden for two months. (was / had been)

10. We usually go to Malaysia on a holiday, but this year we ……………………………………. to Singapore. (went / had gone)

Answers

1. I went to Thailand recently.

2. I wrote a letter to him last week.

3. We went to the theatre last night.

4. He said that he had been suffering from fever for two days.

5. The patient had died before the doctor arrived.

6. The man complained that his car had been stolen.

7. The doctor concluded that the man had died ten hours ago.

8. When I saw him he was writing a story.

9. When I visited him he had been bed-ridden for two months.

10. We usually go to Malaysia on a holiday but this year we went to Singapore.