Exercise - Simple Past vs Past Perfect 2

The simple past is the standard tense used to talk about the past. We use it for short, long and repeated actions and situations. As a rule of thumb, use the simple past if there is no good reason to use another past or perfect tense.

Somebody broke into the school and stole a computer.

They moved to London in 2020.

Note:

We use the simple past (not the past perfect) to describe a series of events that took place one after the other in the past.

First they drove to the supermarket and then they visited their grandparents.

We use the past perfect when describing an action or situation that took place before another action in the past. We are already talking about the past and want to express that another event (clearly distinct) had already taken place before that point in time.

She told us about the clothes she had seen in the store.

I could not remember where I had parked the car.

Note:

We do not use the past perfect (but usually the simple past) to emphasise that a single event took place a very long time ago.

The dinosaurs died out a long time ago. (NOT: The dinosaurs had out …)

In some sentences, either the simple past or the past perfect can be used – with different meanings.

When I came home, Pete left the house. (First I came home, then Pete left the house.)

When I came home, Pete had left the house. (First Pete left the house, then I came home.)