Past Perfect Simple vs Past Perfect Continuous Game
This communicative past perfect simple vs past perfect continuous game helps students practise explaining causes before a past moment in a structured but engaging way.
This lesson comes with:
Fillable Fields – This worksheet can be completed digitally or printed.
Teacher’s Copy – Includes detailed teacher’s notes and an answer key.
Student Version – Perfect for sharing via email for online lessons.
This is most suited to B2-level students but can also be used with strong B1 classes.
30 minutes +
How This Past Perfect Simple vs Past Perfect Continuous Game Works
Students work in pairs. They complete sentences using either the past perfect simple or the past perfect continuous, then take turns forming Why…? questions. Their partner has three guesses using:
- Had + subject + past participle?
- Had + subject + been + verb-ing?
Students respond in full sentences before revealing their original answer.
The format makes this an effective past perfect speaking activity, encouraging accurate tense choice, natural contractions, and meaningful follow-up questions. It works equally well as a focused past perfect continuous game or as part of a broader past perfect revision lesson.
What Students Practise
- Past perfect simple (completed action or state before a past moment)
- Past perfect continuous (activity / duration before a past moment)
- Question formation with had
- Yes/No and wh-questions
- Full answers and negatives
- Cause and effect in the past
This activity also encourages students to think about why one tense is more natural than the other in context, rather than simply focusing on form.
Lesson Objectives
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• distinguish between the past perfect simple and past perfect continuous
• form accurate yes/no and wh-questions using had
• explain causes before a past moment
• respond in full sentences using short answers and contractions
• develop fluency through structured guessing and follow-up questions
Try this Past Perfect Continuous Game in class today!
For best results when printing our PDFs, open and print them through Adobe Acrobat. https://get.adobe.com/reader/
You may also like…
Related products
Our Reviews
Holiday and Travel Phrasal Verbs
Great Conversation Questions 1
Holiday and Travel Phrasal Verbs
Great Conversation Questions 1
