How to see it
Tense tells you when. Ran is past, runs is present, will run is future. In a story about the past, keep the verbs in the past. Some past forms are irregular: go, went; catch, caught. Then check the word before the verb. After to, did or will, use the plain verb: did go. After had, use the past participle: had gone. Had gone means even earlier in the past.
A worked example
Yesterday tells you the story is in the past. Runs is present, so change it: Ella ran. Now, had already gone. The bus left before Ella reached the stop, so had gone is right.
The common mistake: mixing tenses, or the wrong form after a helping word
The trap has two sides. One is mixing tenses, like runs in a story about yesterday. The other is the wrong form after a helping word: we did went, or she had went. It is did go, and had gone.
Try one
By the time we arrived, the film ___ already started.
Choose the best word to complete the sentence.
- Ahas
- Bhad
- Chave
- Dhaving
- Ewill
Show the answerHide the answer
Right: B, had
We arrived in the past, and the film started before that. So, had started.