Keep calm and carry on!
● Module 2 – Past Tenses – Talking about Work History Now
Lesson 7:
The Past Perfect.
Learning Objective:
To clarify the sequence of events (what happened before something else in the past).
Lesson 7:
The project post-mortem.
The project post-mortem.
In a project post-mortem, you need to be precise: “When the client asked for a change, we had already finished the design.” This proves you weren’t late—the client was!
The Past Perfect is used to show that Action A was finished before Action B started.
We use had + past participle.
- Intent: The “Past of the Past”. Use it to show that Action A was finished before Action B started.
- Examples:
- By the time the meeting started, I had already sent the files. (Quando a reunião começou, eu já tinha enviado os arquivos.)
They had decided to cancel the project before I joined. (Eles tinham decidido cancelar o projeto antes de eu entrar.)
Now let’s have some Active Practice.
- Sequencing: Combine “I finished the work” and “The boss called” using ‘before’.
- Completion: “We _______ (invest) in the tech before the market changed.” (Answer: had invested).
- Creation: Write a sentence about a task you finished before lunch yesterday.
Answers
1. Sequencing (using “before”):
I finished the work before the boss called.
2. Completion
Answer: We had invested in the tech before the market changed.
3. Creation (example):
Example: I finished writing my report before lunch yesterday.
Checkpoint!
Explain a situation where you had already completed a task before a deadline was changed.
Lesson 8: Past Perfect Continuous.
We will learn how to show how long a continuous action had been happening before another past event.
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