Lesson Ten 

 What’s the date today?     It’s Monday, “the”  twenty-first “of” September

tomorrow – Tuesday “the” twenty-secund” of September

the day after tomorrow – It’s Wednesday, the twenty-“thurd”

the “furst”

the “twenty-furst”

 

What we did in the lesson

• Vocabulary review
• past perfect
• fun/funny

 

 

Remaining lessons

The last lesson will be on Thursday, “the” twenty-fourth “of” September

 

He’s standing in a puddle.  Small children love jumping in puddles.   puh

He’s paddling his canoe.

to play paddle

He’s standing on a paddleboard.

He’s paddling in the waves.  We rolled up our trouser legs and paddled in the waves.

 

I tried some jeans on in the fitting rooms in the shop   (BrE) /  store  (US)

I got changed and had a shower in the gym’s changing room.   (locker room US)

 

 

 

 

Did you do anything special this weekend?

What was the most interesting and fun thing you did?

What chores and everyday things did you have to do?

 

a chore = eg I vacuumed the apartment, I did some laundry,

I took out the rubbish  (BrE) / the garbage/ the trash

I dusted the shelves  –  I did some dusting

everyday things

I did my English homework

 

 

 

I went to the city centre and went shopping

downtown (US)

I went looking for some clothes, but I couldn’t find anything in my size / anything I liked.

What were your impressions of Sicily?

There were a lot of buildings that were in need of maintenance.

I saw many rundown buildings.

lokal?  a place where we hold an event

We chose a venue for the conference/ for our wedding.

an extra room we can hire/rent

the housing committee where we live

The police escorted the shoplifter off the premises  (= lokal)

There are often thefts on the premises.

 

to be used to doing something (= familiar, accustomed to)

I’m used to living alone (= jag är van)   “eye-myuse to”

I’m used to driving long distances because there is so much distance between towns.

I’m used to getting up early as I start work at 6 am.

I’m used to showering in the early hours.

When I became a parent, it took a while to get used to being responsible for small children.

I soon got used to changing nappies / disturbed night’s sleep

 

 

I used to live in England.  I used to get up early before school and do a paper round.

to graduate from high school (studenten)

public holidays (röda dagar)

 

She works as a volunteer in a prison (unpaid time)

to volunteer

a non-profit organisation  (an NGO)

I don’t drink coffee I’m used to drinking tea.

bostadsrättsförening – tenant owner association, a housing cooperative

There’s a knock at the door, there’s someone knocking at the door

He’s been and gone!   (It was a really really quick visit).

 

 

 

Past Simple vs Past Perfect Simple vs Past Perfect Continuous

What happened first, and what was happening/how long had it been happening?

1. Past Simple

Use the past simple for a completed event in the past.

Form:
subject + past verb plus a time reference

• I arrived at 8 but some colleagues had already arrived before me.
• She called me yesterday.
• We went to Italy last summer. (go)
• We were in Italy

 

2. Past Perfect Simple

When one past action happened before another past action.

Form:
had + past participle   (eat -ate-eaten,  travel – travelled – travelled)

• When I arrived, Maria had already left. (Did you see her?  – no, she had left)
• I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten
• They couldn’t get into the house because they had lost the key.

There are two past events:

FIRST ───────── SECOND ───── NOW

she had left → I arrived

The past perfect tells us which event happened first.

Compare:

When I arrived, Mike left.  (same time, or just after, I saw him briefly)

When I arrived, Mike had left.  (did you see Mike? no)

Mike left before I arrived.

3. Past Perfect Continuous

Use the past perfect continuous when an activity had been continuing for some time before another past event.

Form:

had been + verb-ing

• I had been waiting for an hour when the bus arrived. (how did you feel? irritated, angry, fed up)
• She was tired because she had been working all day.
• They had been driving for five hours when they finally stopped.

The focus is often on duration (how long) or the activity itself.

 

Simple vs Continuous

Compare these:

Past Perfect Simple

I had written three emails before lunch.

Focus = completed result / number of things

Past Perfect Continuous

I had been writing emails for three hours before lunch.

Focus = activity / duration  (not the result)

Another example:

She had cleaned the house before the guests arrived.

The house was clean.
Result is important.

She had been cleaning the house for three hours before the guests arrived.  She was quite hot and tired when they arrived.

The activity and duration are important.

 

Exercise 1 — Fill the gaps

Put the verbs in brackets into past simple, past perfect simple, or past perfect continuous.

1. When I arrived at the station, the train had already left (leave) = missed the train
2. Sarah was exhausted because she had been working all night/ a 12-hour shift. (work) = long time
3. We had dinner at 8 p.m. last night. (have). (We had been preparing all day.)
4. When I got home, my wife had already gone to bed. (go)
5. Tom finished his homework before he went out. (finish)
6. They were angry because they had been waiting for over an hour. (wait)
7. I saw my old teacher yesterday. (see)
8. I saw my teacher yesterday. It had been a long since since we had seen each other.
9. By the time/when the police arrived, the thief had disappeared.
10. She had been studying/ She had studied English for five years before she moved to London. (study)
11. After we had watched the film, we went for a coffee. (watch)
12. He couldn’t open the door because he had lost his keys. (lose) result is really important!
13. I was tired because I had been running all morning. (run) emphasis – how long

 

 

Exercise 2 — Choose the correct tense

Choose A, B, or C.

1.

When I arrived, they had eaten dinner.  (=they had finished

 

1. hadB. had eaten

   C. had been having

2.

She was tired because she had been working for six hours.

1. workedB. had worked

   C. had been working

3.

I saw him at the supermarket yesterday.  He had lost weight.

90 kg – 75 kg

1. sawB. had seen

   C. had been seeing

4.

We got to the cinema late and the film had started so we missed the first 10 minutes of the film.

1. startedB. had started

   C. had been starting

5.

He was angry because someone had damaged his car.

1. damagedB. had damaged

   C. had been damaging

6.

They had been walking for three hours when the rain finally stopped.

1. walkedB. had walked

   C. had been walking

 

 

Discussion Practice

Answer these questions using the three tenses naturally.

Topic: A difficult day

Imagine you had a particularly difficult day last year.

1. What happened?
2. What had happened before the difficult situation started?
3. What had you been doing before the problem occurred?
4. How did you feel?
5. What did you do afterwards?
6. Had you experienced anything similar before?

 

 

Example

Last year, I had a terrible day at work. I arrived at the office at 8:30, but when I arrived, my computer had already stopped working. I was stressed because I had been preparing an important presentation for several days. I called the IT department, but nobody answered. By the time someone came to help me, I had already lost an hour. I was angry because I had been waiting for so long. Eventually/Finally, they fixed the computer and I gave my presentation. I was exhausted because I had been worrying about the problem all morning.

Notice how the tenses work together rather than appearing separately.

 

 

 

1. What did you do before you came to class today? (past simple)
2. Tell your partner about a time when you were very tired. What had you been doing? (past before the past)  I was really tired because I had been working all day, I had been working out all morning, I had been studying all night. I had been writing/had been finishing off  a scientific article all night     /  to finish off = complete
3. Have you ever missed a bus or train or flight? What had happened before that?
4. Describe a time when something went wrong. What had happened before the problem?
5. What did you do last weekend?
6. What had you planned to do before last weekend started?
7. Tell us about a time when you forgot something important or were late for something. What happened?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun vs. funny   (= rolig)

Fun = enjoyable / entertaining

We use fun when something gives you a good time or you enjoy doing it.

• The party was fun. (=I enjoyed the party).
• Playing football is fun.
• We had a fun day at the beach.
• She’s a fun person to be around.

Think: fun = “I enjoy it.” 😊

 

Funny =  when something makes you laugh or is humorous.

• That joke was funny.
• He’s really funny.
• I watched a funny film last night.
• She told me a funny story.

Think: funny = “It makes me laugh.” 😂

 

Funny = can also mean strange, unusual, or slightly suspicious.  suh-spish-us

• That’s a funny smell.  (= a strange smell)
• There’s something funny about this computer.
• He gave me a funny look.
• I have a funny feeling about this.

Think: funny = “It’s strange.” 🤔

 

Do you mean funny ha-ha or funny odd?

 

 

1. We had so much fun at the amusement park. (= Liseberg)
2. My brother is really funny. He makes everyone laugh.
3. That’s strange/funny. I was sure I left my keys here. Where did I put them?
4. Learning a new language can be fun.
5. That’s a very funny joke!
6. We had a fun evening playing board games. (= enjoyable)
7. The film was really funny; I couldn’t stop laughing.
8. There’s a funny smell coming from the kitchen. Is something burning?
9. It was fun to spend the day with my friends.
10. Our team-building activity was surprisingly fun. I hadn’t expected that!
11. Working in a busy clothes shop can be really fun when you have a great team.

 

 

 

 

In breakout rooms:

What do you do for fun?

Who is the most fun person you know?  Mr Bean  (character)

What activities are more fun with friends?  playing board games, sailing, singing, jumping on a trampoline, playing video/computer games, watching TV/movies

What kind of things make you laugh? Why are they funny?

Have you ever worked with a colleague who was really funny?

 

Jumping on a trampoline is both fun and funny!