29. IELTS Task 1 : "Past simple, past perfect, and past perfect continuous in IELTS task 1"

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The past simple, past perfect, and past perfect continuous tenses are great to use in IELTS. We can use them to compare actions that happened in the past and show the examiner how deep our knowledge of time is.

Firstly let’s look at the past perfect simple. This tense is made with had + past participle. It is used in the following ways.

1. When we are talking about the past and want to mention something that happened earlier. Notice that the adverb (already) goes between had and the past participle.

Mozart’s father was a composer and his grandfather had also been a musician.

2. We can use words like when, as soon as, by the time, after to show the order of events.

When Mozart was born, five of his siblings had already died.

3. To talk about an indefinite time before a particular time, use words like always, sometimes, never, before, by + fixed time.

His family were richer than they had ever been before.

Next, the past perfect continuous is made with had been + -ing. It is used in the following ways.

1. To focus on how long an activity continued or to focus on the activity itself.

Times were hard and the family had been struggling for some time. (to show how long)

Mozart’s sister was extremely gifted at the keyboard and she had been making excellent progress.

Note that we cannot use the past perfect continuous to say how many times something happened.

GOOD – I knew the way as I had visited her several times before.

NOT GOOD – I knew the way as I had been visiting her several times.

Let’s look at how all of this will work in an IELTS task 1. Look at the chart below, then try and decide which verb will be used – the past simple, or the past perfect simple.

The chart shows the percentage of people aged 65 and over in the United States between 1900 and 2000. In the year 1900 jus over 4% of the population (1) was / had been aged over 65. However, by 1960 this figure (2) doubled / had doubled.

The number of people aged between 75 and 84 (3) remained / had remained fairly steady between 1900 and 1930, making up only 1-1.3% of the population. The figure (4) began / had begun to rise more significantly in 1940 and by 1970 it (5) tripled / had tripled to reach 3% of the population.

Although there (6) was / had been no change in the number of people aged 65-74 between 1960 and 1970, the number of people aged 75 and over (7) increased / had increased during this time. By the year 2000, 12.4% of the US population (8) reached / had reached the age of 65 or more, although this was slightly lower than in 1990 when it (9) peaked / had peaked at 12.6%.

The chart shows that today people in the United States can expect to live longer than in 1900. By the year 2000 more then 12% of the population (10) managed / had managed to live to the age of 65 and over compared to only 4.1% in 1900.

That’s it for today’s podcast. Try your best to use these past time tenses correctly when you are describing IELTS task 1 charts.

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