Aug 1, 2010

The Proposal: Past Perfect x Past Perfect Continuous

Romantic comedies are not my favorite kind of movie, but they usually have great scenes for grammar. This one is no exception. I think this is one of the funniest scenes involving dogs that I have ever seen. I used it to practice contrasting the past perfect and the past perfect continuous tenses.





A. Fill in the blanks with the past perfect or the past perfect continuous form of the verbs in parentheses. When both are possible, use the past perfect continuous.



1. She _______________ (leave) the house when the dog started following her outside.


2. She _________________(talk) on the phone for a few minutes when the eagle fetched the dog.



3. The eagle _____________ (fly) with the dog in its claws when she threw the phone at the bird.


4. The eagle ___________ (drop) the dog when she caught him before he hit the ground.


5. She ______________ (run) away from the eagle when it suddenly took her phone from her hands.


6. She _________________ (carry) the dog around the yard when her fiance and his family finally saw her there.



7. She ___________(let) the dog go when the couple held each other in the garden.
Answer Key:

1.had left
2. had been talking
3. had been flying
4. had dropped
5. had been running
6. had been carrying
7. had let

WORKSHEET

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - THE PROPOSAL

11 comments:

free movies said...

Amazing . You have made a quiz out of the movie that is the most interesting part that I like. I am not very much good at grammar but can improve it with this method. Thanks for sharing and looking for some more quiz from your side.

Claudio Azevedo said...

Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it. Yeah, this scene is my favorite one too.

Anonymous said...

Love it. Good stuff to show that Grammar is not mind bending!

Claudio Azevedo said...

Totally agree. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

This is the most fascinating idea you could ever had! You have solved all my problems! These movie clips....awesome idea.

Anonymous said...

BIIIIIIIIG THANKS TO YOU!!!!!!! awesome activity and awesome movie! :)

Tô nos 30 e agora????? said...

Thank you so much for your work!!! It's amazing!!!!

Butterfly said...

The video is not here anymore??? Is anybody going through the same problem? :-(

Claudio Azevedo said...

You can download the segment from the link at the end of the post.

Anonymous said...

Why is past perfect used and not present perfect, e.g. question #2?

Claudio Azevedo said...

First, because of the instructions - Fill in the blanks with the past perfect or the past perfect continuous form of the verbs in parentheses. When both are possible, use the past perfect continuous.

Second, because present perfect is not possible. Either past perfect continuous or simple past - the action is not happening anymore.