This lesson will take approximately 40 minutes. It includes a funny story about a bad day which students must use the past perfect to complete. After that they have a chance to create their own funny sentences about “bad days” using the past perfect.

The worksheet can be downloaded below.

Teacher Answers and Directions

1. As a warm-up, ask the students to tell each other in partners about their most recent “bad day.”
2. Then tell students that they will be completing a story about a man named Timmy’s bad day. The ANSWERS to the story are:
   1. had eaten
   2. had already left
   3. had always wanted
   4. had given
   5. had left
   6. had accepted
   7. had just got/gotten.
3. Then have students complete the sentences 1-10 with bad/dramatic/funny past perfect endings, such as “1. When Sally arrived at work, her coworkers had already had a surprise party or the building had exploded.“ The answers can be ridiculous as long as they are in the past perfect.
4. At the end have students compare their answers. If you like, you can decide as a class or in groups which answers are the funniest/worst/etc.

Student materials

Timmy’s Terrible Day

Directions: Use the past perfect to finish this story.

When Timmy woke up on Friday, he was in a great mood. He got out of bed, got dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast. But when he got downstairs, his roommate (1)________________________ (eat) all of his cereal. Timmy was hungry, but he had to get to work. He was running a little late. When he arrived at the bus stop, the bus (2)________________________ (already / leave). Frustrated, Timmy took a taxi, but he tried to stay optimistic. He (3)________________________ (always / want) to ask his boss for a promotion and today he was finally going to ask for it. He was confident his boss would give it to him. But when Timmy got into work, he realized that the boss (4)________________________ (give) the promotion to his coworker. Timmy was so mad, he decided to have a discussion about the situation with his boss. He walked into his boss’s office, but his boss (5)________________________ (leave) for lunch. Timmy’s day was going so poorly, but then he saw his crush. He decided that he could still turn this day around. He walked up to his crush and asked her if she wanted to go out with him, but she told him that she (6)________________________ (accept) a dinner date with Timmy’s coworker. The same coworker who (7)________________________ (just / got) a promotion! What a horrible day!

What a horrible day!

Directions: Use the past perfect to finish these sentences in the funniest or most dramatic way possible.

1. When Sally arrived at work…
2. Before the teacher walked into the classroom…
3. When dad arrived home…
4. By the time I bought that new computer…
5. As soon as Juan arrived at the zoo…
6. By the time Kevin finished cleaning the house…
7. When I bought a ring for my girlfriend…
8. When it started to rain…
9. Before Eugene graduated…
10. Bill bought a PlayStation, but…

Compare your answers with another group. Do you have any of the same answers? 

And that’s it! It’s a super simple lesson that you can use with any intermediate group to get a bit of extra practice using the past perfect and to have a bit of fun too.

Check out other grammar lessons here!