Here is Level 2, Lesson 3: “He Said – She Said” adapted from VOA Learning English.
- Listen, read, translate if needed, and practice along with the audio player and dialogue below.
Anna: Today, Pete and I are meeting with a consultant who will help us with our new show. Yesterday, Pete had promised to meet me here at 8:00 am. but he did not come on time.
Prof Bot: Uh-oh. It’s bad to be late for a business meeting. But while we wait for Pete, let’s talk about a new verb tense — past perfect! You know the past tense, right? Like, “Pete promised to meet me here at 8:00 a.m.” Past perfect is a little different. When we talk about two things in the past, we can use the past perfect for the first event. Put “had” before the past participle. “Pete had promised he would meet Anna.” Here’s your assignment: find sentences with the past perfect tense. Remember, look for “had!”
Kelly: You two are late — exactly 43 minutes late! What happened?
Anna: He had to get his “special” coffee — SPECIAL coffee!
Pete: She had to feed her birds — HER birds!
Kelly: Okay, I can see already that you need my help. You can’t both talk at the same time. You have to take turns. Alright, Anna, you go first.
Anna: Sure. Kelly, see, Pete and I live in the same building. So, we decided to meet at 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. to come to work together. I had waited 15 minutes when Pete arrived!
Anna: After Pete had wasted time waiting for coffee, we were late. I left you a message.*
Kelly: Hum. I didn’t get that message.
Anna: Oh. Sorry.
Kelly: Pete?
Prof. Bot: Anna left a message. That’s the right thing to do. Did you find some examples of the past perfect sentences? I did. Anna said,
Anna: “After Pete had wasted time waiting for coffee, we were late.
Look at that coffee! It looks more like dessert! Okay, keep watching for past perfect!
Pete: Yeah, that’s not why we’re late. This is why we’re late: I had arrived on time at 8:00 a.m. but didn’t see Anna. She was standing behind a tree. I think she was hugging it. I always walk to work. But she said that would take too long and that a scooter would be much faster. It was awful. I hated it. And it added too much time to our commute!
Then Anna stopped by a pond to feed the birds. She had named them after characters from books and yelled the names out loud … Romeo! Juliet! Sherlock!
By the time she had fed all the birds, we were late.
Kelly: This is what I think. You two see the same event very differently. Does this happen often with you two?
Pete: Yes.
Anna: No.
Pete: No.
Anna: Yes.
Kelly: Okay. This is good. This is good! It’s good to see things differently. I have an idea: we will call the show “He Said, She Said.” For every story, you tell a different point of view.
Anna: That is a great idea, Kelly! Pete, we are different. That’s why I thought of you for this job!
Kelly: I think you two understand perfectly.
Anna: Let’s get to work!
Kelly: She named the birds? Really?
Pete: Yeah…
* Business people in the U.S. think you should come to a meeting at the exact time. If you are late to a business appointment, you should call and explain why.
2. Watch “Lesson 3: He Said – She Said” American English video lesson.
3. Take the “Lesson 3: He Said – She Said” quiz to check your American English knowledge. Click here to take the quiz.
4. Answer the following question in the comments section below: Think of a friend who thinks about things differently from you. Tell about a time when you saw the same event or situation in very different ways.
About the Author
Hello everyone,
It’s really and necessary to be different if we want to live in the same building. To have different view is normal, it is not an issue.
Thanks teacher
Hello,
I am Albertine
I scored 100% in today’s quiz.
I learned that to have different points of view is normal, what we need is to have a time and talk in order to live in harmony.
Sometimes, my husband and I have different opinions, but what we realised, is that, it is our strength because, that is what complementarity is all about.
Thank you
Hello. I’m Danijela.
Very interesting lesson also video with Ana and Pete.
People have different opinions and views and that is normal. It’s important that we accept differences and be flexible in dealing with people.
Thank you very much Maestro Sersea.
Hello. I’m Maribel.
I enjoyed our class about past perfect today.
I have a friend Miryam. We are very different. She likes to do the opposite to my ideas.For example last year we organized a surprise birthday party for another friend. Miryan wanted to make the party in a big party room with lot of guests and I wanted the party at home just with friends and family. Finally, we didn’t do the surprise party. It was so sad. we didn’t agree.
Hello everyone
Well, just this afternoon, I was discussing with a friend about our country. She asked me if I was proud of our country.
I told her that I used to be very proud but after what had changed, I rather felt a sense of shame; because, despite the natural beauty and wealth, our country suffer from abundant misery, poverty, insecurity, corruption and death.
Unlike me, she said that regardless of this, we have a beautiful and wealth country which should make us feel proud.
Ok, we must respect the other opínions. By the way, I got 4/4 on the quiz.
Thank you Maestro
Hello , Hind from Iraq ,
We talk about verb tense past perfect, you know when we talk about two things in the past , we can use the past perfect for the first event .
Lesson 2.3.4 Year 2
Lesson 3 Quiz
” He said – She said ”
I got a full score. It is a good exercise.
Greeting Maestro Sersea
I did my quiz and got 100%
At the beginnig this year a friend, my sister and I decide to bring our dog to a groomer. The groomer attendance showed us differents cut hair dog stylies but she and I differ about the long, haircut and hair style both had different ideas in mind at the end
we choose one haircut but due to our indesition the groomer ended up cutting shortest than accord it. Despite to the misunderstanding she made a good job, thanks God.
Thank you so much
Hi! I have my friend he’s a fan of Barcelona i’m a fan of real madrid, so when we saw the classico soccer between two teams we have different point of view any time during a match
Hello everyone,
I had answered 4 correct answers of quiz and I got 100%.
Thank you Maestro.
Hello!
I did the quiz and I got 75%. I learned one new word POND.
Thank you Maestro Searsea.