In this amusing past perfect continuous activity, students play the ‘long sentence game’, writing halves of sentences using the past perfect continuous and past simple tenses. Divide the students into groups of four and give each student one of the four cards cut from the printed worksheet.
At the top of each card is a ‘sentence half’ using the past perfect continuous tense, for example “Alice had been walking around town all day…”. Students must read their sentence half, then complete the sentence with a past simple sentence half in box number 1, for example “…when she saw a dragon”. Students then fold along the dotted line above box number 1, so that only the sentence half they wrote can be seen.
Next, students pass their card to the person on their right who now writes a past perfect continuous sentence half in box number 2, such as “…we had been waiting for a taxi for an hour”. Students again fold along the dotted line above the box, such that only their sentence half is visible.
Students repeat this process, alternating between past perfect continuous and past simple sentence halves, until the card is filled. Finally, students unfold their cards, taking it in turns to read their long sentences to the group. Students should check each other’s sentences and correct any mistakes as they go. Then, each group chooses the best or most amusing long sentence, reading it aloud to the whole class.
