Fill in the blanks using the correct form of the verbs in brackets.

My little sister is very naughty. When she ___ (come) back from school yesterday, she had ____ (tear) her dress. We ____ (ask) her how it had ____ (happen). She ___ (say) she_____ (have, quarrel) with a boy. She ___ (have, beat) him in a race and he ___ (have, try) to push her. She ___ (have, tell) the teacher and so he ___ (have, chase) her and she ___ (have, fall) down and ____ (have, tear) her dress.

Do you think the title of the story is suitable for it? Can you think of any other title(s)?

Look at these sentences from the story.

I spotted it in a junk shop in Bridport… The man said it was made in the early nineteenth century … This one was in a bad condition…

The italicised verbs are in the past tense. They tell us what happened in the past, before now.

Read the passage below and underline the verb in the past tense.

A man got on the train and sat down. The compartment was empty except for one lady.

She took her gloves off. A few hours later the police arrested the man. They held him for 24 hours and then freed him.

Underline the verbs and arrange them in two columns, Past and Earlier past.

(a) My friends set out to see the caves in the next town, but I stayed at home because I had seen them already.

(b) When they arrived at the station, their train had left. They came back home, but by that time I had gone out to see a movie!

(c) So they sat outside and ate the lunch I had packed for them.

(d) By the time I returned, they had fallen asleep!

Dictionary Work

By the end of the journey, we had run out of drinking water.

Look at the verb run out of in this sentence. It is a phrasal verb: it has two parts, a verb and a preposition or an adverb. Phrasal verbs often have meanings that are different from the meanings of their parts.

Find these phrasal verbs in the story.

Write down the sentences in which they occur.

Consult a dictionary and write down the meaning that you think matches the meaning of the phrasal verb in the sentence.