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Past Perfect – Test 1

B1 Intermediate GrammarEnglish

This B1 grammar test checks how well learners form and use the past perfect, including negatives, questions and short answers. It also tests when to use the past perfect instead of the past simple and how to spot typical errors. It suits intermediate learners, classroom revision and self-study.

Questions
30
Time
30 min
PDF
4 pages
Answer key
Included
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Choose the best option (A, B, C or D) for each question. Choose your answers, then press “Check my answers”.

Part 1: Form – affirmative, negative and questions

Choose the correct option to complete each sentence or answer each question.

  1. By the time we arrived, the film _____ already started.

  2. Maria was tired because she _____ all day.

  3. I _____ that museum before, so I was excited to go.

  4. _____ you ever _____ sushi before you went to Japan?

  5. They _____ the tickets, so they couldn't get in.

  6. Choose the correct sentence.

  7. Choose the correct question.

  8. "Had Tom left when you got home?" "No, he _____."

  9. When I got to the station, the train _____.

  10. "We'd finished dinner when the phone rang." What does 'd mean in this sentence?

Part 2: Meaning and use

Choose the option that best completes each sentence or answers the question.

  1. When Ana got home, her brother _____ dinner, so they sat down and ate straight away.

  2. "When I arrived, the meeting had finished." Which statement is true?

  3. I didn't want to see the film because I _____ already _____ the book and knew the ending.

  4. After she _____ her exams, she went on holiday.

  5. I didn't recognise Sam because he _____ a lot since school.

  6. She had lived in Rome _____ ten years before she moved to Madrid.

  7. They _____ never _____ snow until they visited Canada last winter.

  8. Choose the correct sentence.

  9. The shop _____ by the time I got there, so I went home.

  10. Ella had never flown _____ she went to Australia in 2019.

Part 3: Reading – the order of past events

Read the text and choose the best answer to each question.

Last summer, Priya travelled to Lisbon for a job interview. She had never been to Portugal before, so she was a little nervous. She had booked a hotel near the city centre, and she had checked the route to the office the night before.

On the morning of the interview, she woke up late because she had forgotten to set her alarm. She got dressed quickly and ran to the bus stop, but the bus had just left. Luckily, a taxi was passing, and she arrived at the office five minutes early.

The manager, Mr Okafor, smiled when she came in. He had read her application, and he had liked her ideas. After the interview had finished, Priya walked along the river. By the evening, she had received an email: she had got the job!

  1. Why was Priya a little nervous?

  2. Which of these things happened first?

  3. Why did Priya wake up late?

  4. When Priya got to the bus stop, what was the situation?

  5. "He had read her application." When did Mr Okafor read it?

Part 4: Find the error

Each sentence contains one mistake. Choose the underlined part that is wrong.

  1. When we got to the party, most of the guests had went home.

  2. Did the students had finished the test when the bell rang?

  3. She didn't had finished her report when the boss asked for it.

  4. He left for work after he has eaten breakfast.

  5. By 2020, my parents lived in this house for twenty years.

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About this test

This B1 grammar test checks how well learners form and use the past perfect, including negatives, questions and short answers. It also tests when to use the past perfect instead of the past simple and how to spot typical errors. It suits intermediate learners, classroom revision and self-study.

Topics covered

Past perfect formNegatives and questionsPast perfect vs past simpleTime expressions: already, by the time, before, untilSequence of past eventsError correction

How to use this test

  1. Download the PDF and print it, or take the test online below.
  2. Answer every question without a dictionary or time pressure.
  3. Check your answers and note the topics you need to review.

Notes for teachers

Use this test after teaching the past perfect, or as a diagnostic before revision. It targets common B1 errors: using the past simple form after 'had' (had went), using 'did' in past perfect questions, overusing the past perfect for single past events, and confusing it with the present perfect. For follow-up, ask learners to write a short story about a bad day using at least five past perfect verbs with 'by the time', 'already' and 'before'.