A

1: Talk about a time when by the time you arrived, everyone had left the place.

2: When was the last time you didn’t go to the cinema with someone because you had already seen the film?

3: When was the last time you called someone to tell them that you would be late because you hadn’t finished doing the housework/homework by then?

4: Imagine I called you yesterday at 9 a.m.; had you just finished having breakfast?

5: When was the last time your car broke down just after you had set off?

6: When was the last time you didn’t eat anything at a party because you had already eaten at home?

7: Talk about a piece of news you had already heard about before you saw it on TV?

B

1: If I say “We had dinner when Maria arrived,” does it mean that Maria arrived and then we had dinner or we had dinner and then Maria arrived?

We had had dinner when Maria arrived.

We had dinner when Maria arrived.

2: If I say “I read the book after I’d seen the film,” does it mean that I saw the film and then I read the book or I read the book and then I saw the film?

3: If I say “By the time Mum came home, I’d gone to bed,” does it mean that I went to bed before Mum came home or I went to bed after Mum came home?

4: If you hear someone say “My friend didn’t go to bed until her Dad had come home,” does it meant that my friend went to bed and then her Dad came home or her dad came home and then my friend went to bed?

5: If someone says “Mr. Jones hadn’t arrived at the office by the time I got there,” does it mean that I arrived before Mr. Jones or Mr. Jones arrived before me?

6: If I you hear “They’d bought the plane tickets before they heard about the cheaper flight”, does it mean that they bought the plane tickets and later they heard about the cheaper flight or they heard about the cheaper flight and then they bought the plane ticket?

7: If I say “The girls had tidied the house when the visitors arrived,” does it mean that the visitors arrived and later the girls tidied the house or the girls tidied the house and then the visitors arrived?

C

1: When was the last time you had already heard the news about something when someone told you about it?

2: When was the last time you had already thought of something before someone suggested it to you?

3: When was the last time you turned on the TV to watch something but your programme had already started/finished?

4: When was the last time you were really hungry because you hadn’t eaten anything all day?

5: Talk about someone who had already decided what they were going to become by the time they left school.

D

1: When was the last time you were tired because you had been running?

2: When was the last time you were hot because you had been dancing?

3: When was the last time your area was flooded because it had been raining all night?

4: Talk about someone who crashed their car because they had been driving too fast.

5: When was the last time you arrived at a place where a person had been waiting for you for over half an hour/for some time?

6: When was the last time someone met you somewhere where you had been waiting for them for a long time?

E

1: When was the last time you had only been doing the housework for a few minutes when a family member came home and offered to help you finish it?

2: Had you already given one of your parents their birthday gift on their last birthday before others gave them theirs?

3: When was the last time you didn’t get angry with a close friend for not helping you because they had told you that they couldn’t?

4: When was the last time you saw someone realize that their tea/coffee had salt in it after they had been drinking it for several minutes?

5: When was the last time someone called to say that an event had been cancelled after you had been getting ready for it all day?

6: When was your first fantastic experience in the air because you had never flown in a plane?

F 

1: How did you feel the last time you got your exam results after you had been expecting them for a long time?

2: When was the last time you knew you had done quite well even before you got your exam results?

3: When was the last time you were nervous as you opened an envelope even before you had the chance to look at what was inside?

4: When was the last time someone read out your exam results and you realized that you had done really well in the exams?

5: When was the last time your parents shouted with joy because you had done something really good?

6: When was the last time you got really happy after you heard a piece of news you had been waiting for?