Past Perfect Vs Simple Past Exercises With Answers

Do the following exercises on the past perfect and the simple past and click the button to check your answers

(Before doing the exercises, you may want to read the lessons about the past perfect and the simple past)

Fill in the blanks with the correct verb form, either in the simple past or past perfect tense.

Tips:

If the sentence shows a clear sequence of events, use the past perfect for the earlier action.
The simple past is often used with time markers like yesterday, last year, in 2010, etc.

Example sentence breakdown:

When they ______________ (finish) dinner, they ______________ (go) for a walk.
Correct answer: had finished, went (the dinner finished before they went for a walk).

Simple Past is used for actions that happened at a specific time in the past. It describes completed actions or events that are no longer ongoing.
- Example:
  - I visited the museum yesterday.
  - She finished her homework last night.
Past Perfect is used to describe an action that was completed before another action in the past. It emphasizes the order of events.
- Example:
  - By the time I arrived, they had left.
  - She had studied for hours before the exam started.

Simple Past	Past Perfect
Use: Completed action in the past with a specific time or sequence	Form: Had + past participle
Use: Completed action in the past with a specific time or sequence	Use: Action completed before another past action or time
Examples:	Examples:
– “She visited the museum last week.”	– “She had visited Paris before moving to London.”
– “They finished dinner and left.”	– “They had finished dinner before the guests arrived.”

Table of Contents