The Past Perfect tense is useful in specific contexts in the IELTS test:
- Telling a story (Speaking and General Training letters)
- Describing dynamic charts (Academic Writing Task 1)
Let’s start by looking at examples form storytelling.
Imagine you missed your train and you’re telling your friend what happened.
Look at these two sentences and answer the questions below:
- The train left at 10.00. I arrived at the station at 10.05.
- When I arrived at the station, the train had already left.
- How many actions happened?
- Which action happened first?
- How many sentences are there in each statement?
- The meaning is the same, but what is the difference between them?
- How many actions happened?
There were 2 actions: (1) the train left and (2) you arrived at the station.
- Which action happened first?
(1) The train left. Then (2) you arrived.
- How many sentences are there in each statement?
- 2 sentences.
- Just ONE sentence.
- The meaning is the same, but what is the difference between them?
Sentence 2 contains a linking word (“When”). Sentence 2 is more interesting. It tells a story. It adds drama.
Sentence 1 simply tells the facts in chronological order.
Grammar: How do I make the Past Perfect?
had + Past Participle (3rd form)
- When I got to the airport the plane had already taken off.
- I tried to pay but I realised that I had left my wallet at home.
- He was in hospital because he had broken his leg.
- Before I came to the UK, I had never eaten British food.
When to use the Past Perfect
We can use Past Perfect when
- there are 2 consecutive actions in the past (The train left. I arrived.)
- you want to link the 2 actions with a linking word (When…)
- you want to add drama and interest to your story
Look at this example. It is correct but sounds weird:
I forgot my passport. I suddenly realised.
(TWO consecutive actions.TWO sentences. Simple Past, in the same order they happened.)
I suddenly realised that I had forgotten my passport.
(ONE sentence, a linking word, in a different order from how they happened)
Which one sounds better? The second one.
So we can use the Past Perfect with phrases like
- I realised that…,
- I noticed that…,
- I remembered that…
- I discovered that…
- I found out that…
We used it a lot in the Speaking Challenge, to answer questions like:
‘Have you ever lost your phone?’
‘Yes, I was travelling to work and when I sat down I realised my phone had fallen out of my pocket’.
‘Have you ever made a complaint?’
‘Yes I was staying in a hotel, and I had never been to a hotel by myself before. When they gave me the bill, I noticed that they had charged me for lots of things I hadn’t ordered!’.
You can also use Past Perfect to explain situations in the past (the linking word is now because) e.g.
I was hungry because I hadn’t had any breakfast.
I failed the test because I hadn’t revised.
Past Perfect: Pronunciation
The Past Perfect is really useful in storytelling, which is essential for the Speaking Test (Part 2 Long Turn).
In fluent, connected speech, ‘had’ auxiliary verb is usually contracted.
So when you say:
“I’d never been to a hotel before”
or
“I realised I’d forgotten my passport”.
the “I’d” often sounds like “ud” or “ad” because it’s weak.
This does NOT happen in the negative:
“I was hungry because I hadn’t had any breakfast”.
When to use the Past Perfect in Academic Writing Task 1
Graphs/Tables in Task 1 usually describe a time period in the past.
So usually you only need to use the Simple Past Tense e.g.
Between 2000 and 2010 sales increased.
But you can make that sentence more complex: use the linking word ‘BY’ and a date to describe what happened in the period before that date.
By 2010, the percentage of mobile phone users had reached 40%.
This follows the rule of 2 things in the past
- the date (2010 is in the past)
- the action before 2010 (40% owned a phone)
But the date comes first.
Compare:
- In 2000, 20% of the population owned a mobile phone.
- By 2005, this had risen to 30%.
- In 2010, 40% of the population owned a mobile phone.
Common mistakes
People tend to use the Past Perfect when it is NOT NECESSARY.
Usually, the only tense you need in a dynamic graph in the past is Simple Past.
How to use Past Perfect in MAPS
In the video lesson, you can see how we compared Past Simple and Past Perfect, following the rule above with “by”.
- ‘Many houses WERE constructed in 2010′
- ‘Many houses HAD BEEN constructed by 2010′
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hello mam…!!!
I’m Kavita
I can’t understand the difference between by and in, when using past perfect ..please help me.
Hi Kavita! Use ‘in’ when the timeframe is in ONE year e.g. I left home in 2000. Use ‘by’ to talk about the time leading up to a year e.g By 2010 I had moved house 10 times.
Kavita you can find the examples from our YouTube lesson here to help you see the difference:
https://youtu.be/GeZKogKIJ4Q
I first moved house in 1990.
By 2019 I had moved house 15 times.
In 2000 Nouman bought his first car.
By 2019 he had bought 3 cars.
Saurabh joined the company in 2000.
By 2015 he had been promoted 4 times.
In 2011 Amira went to Singapore.
She had never been to Singapore before.
In 2000 Prakash found his first job.
By 2017 he had done 5 different jobs.
is it ok to use past perfect with (during).
for example, durning 2012, the sale had increased.
Hi Harpreet.
Not in this example because the action happens at the same time as the year – ‘In 2012, sales increased’.
Past Perfect is when you have two different time periods or actions, and one happened before the other e.g. By 2021, sales had increased’.
The preposition ‘by’ usually signals a time period BEFORE the date. I hope that helps.