Past Perfect with an excerpt of Matilda by Roald Dahl

Matilda by Roald Dahl

By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting. ‘Daddy,’ she said, ‘do you think you could buy me a book?’ ‘A book?’ he said. ‘What d’you want a flaming book for?’ ‘To read, Daddy.’ ‘What’s wrong with the telly, for heaven’s sake? We’ve got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You’re getting spoiled, my girl!’ Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother (five years older than her) went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo in a town eight miles away. Mrs Wormwood was hooked on bingo and played it five afternoons a week. On the afternoon of the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set out all by herself to walk to the public library in the village. When she arrived, she introduced herself to the librarian, Mrs Phelps. She asked if she might sit awhile and read a book. Mrs Phelps, slightly taken aback at the arrival of such a tiny girl unaccompanied by a parent, nevertheless told her she was very welcome. ‘Where are the children’s books please?’ Matilda asked. ‘They’re over there on those lower shelves,’ Mrs Phelps told her. ‘Would you like me to help you find a nice one with lots of pictures in it?’ ‘No, thank you,’ Matilda said. ‘I’m sure I can manage.’ From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library. The walk took only ten minutes and this allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy corner devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children’s book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else. Mrs Phelps, who had been watching her with fascination for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her. ‘Can I help you, Matilda?’ she asked. ‘I’m wondering what to read next,’ Matilda said. ‘I’ve finished all the children’s books.’ ‘You mean you’ve looked at the pictures?’ ‘Yes, but I’ve read the books as well.’ Mrs Phelps looked down at Matilda from her great height and Matilda looked right back up at her. ‘I thought some were very poor,’ Matilda said, ‘but others were lovely. I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery. The mystery of the room behind the closed door and the mystery of the garden behind the big wall.’ Mrs Phelps was stunned. ‘Exactly how old are you, Matilda?’ she asked. ‘Four years and three months,’ Matilda said. Mrs Phelps was more stunned than ever, but she had the sense not to show it. ‘What sort of a book would you like to read next?’ she asked. Matilda said, ‘I would like a really good one that grown-ups read. A famous one. I don’t know any names.’ Mrs Phelps looked along the shelves, taking her time. She didn’t quite know what to bring out. How, she asked herself, does one choose a famous grown-up book for a four-year-old girl? Her first thought was to pick a young teenager’s romance of the kind that is written for fifteen-year-old school-girls, but for some reason she found herself instinctively walking past that particular shelf. ‘Try this,’ she said at last. ‘It’s very famous and very good. If it’s too long for you, just let me know and I’ll find something shorter and a bit easier.’ ‘Great Expectations,’ Matilda read, ‘by Charles Dickens'.

Excerpt of Matilda by Roald Dahl, from https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/children/2018/sept/matilda-by-roald-dahl-extract.html Picture drawing by Quentin Blake, illustrator of most of Roald Dahl's books.

Vocabulary and language analysis

1. Do you know the meaning of any of the words in bold? With a partner, try to guess from the context of the sentence or deduce the meaning from a part of the word. For example, take the word "enlightened". You surely know the meaning of the part in bold. Can you deduce any meaning from "light" or even "lighten"? Ask yourself, what kind of word is "light" and "lighten" and "lightened"? what could the prefix "en" be adding to the word "lightened"? Try to do the same with the rest of the words in the text. 2. Look up the meaning for those words you didn't or couldn't guess and compare what you found with a partner. Does it make sense in the context of the sentence? Check with the rest of the class and your teacher. 3. If there are any other words in the text you don't know, ask your partner or look them up as well. 4. With a partner, make a list of all the verb tenses that appear in the text. is there any you can't recognise or that you recognise but you don't know how to form or use? 5. Look at the first sentence of the passage: "By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house." What tense is the verb in bold? Can you underline other examples of this tense in the text?

By the time she was three, Matilda had taught herself to read by studying newspapers and magazines that lay around the house. At the age of four, she could read fast and well and she naturally began hankering after books. The only book in the whole of this enlightened household was something called Easy Cooking belonging to her mother, and when she had read this from cover to cover and had learnt all the recipes by heart, she decided she wanted something more interesting. ‘Daddy,’ she said, ‘do you think you could buy me a book?’ ‘A book?’ he said. ‘What d’you want a flaming book for?’ ‘To read, Daddy.’ ‘What’s wrong with the telly, for heaven’s sake? We’ve got a lovely telly with a twelve-inch screen and now you come asking for a book! You’re getting spoiled, my girl!’ Nearly every weekday afternoon Matilda was left alone in the house. Her brother (five years older than her) went to school. Her father went to work and her mother went out playing bingo in a town eight miles away. Mrs Wormwood was hooked on bingo and played it five afternoons a week. On the afternoon of the day when her father had refused to buy her a book, Matilda set out all by herself to walk to the public library in the village. When she arrived, she introduced herself to the librarian, Mrs Phelps. She asked if she might sit awhile and read a book. Mrs Phelps, slightly taken aback at the arrival of such a tiny girl unaccompanied by a parent, nevertheless told her she was very welcome. ‘Where are the children’s books please?’ Matilda asked. ‘They’re over there on those lower shelves,’ Mrs Phelps told her. ‘Would you like me to help you find a nice one with lots of pictures in it?’ ‘No, thank you,’ Matilda said. ‘I’m sure I can manage.’ From then on, every afternoon, as soon as her mother had left for bingo, Matilda would toddle down to the library. The walk took only ten minutes and this allowed her two glorious hours sitting quietly by herself in a cosy corner devouring one book after another. When she had read every single children’s book in the place, she started wandering round in search of something else. Mrs Phelps, who had been watching her with fascination for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her. ‘Can I help you, Matilda?’ she asked. ‘I’m wondering what to read next,’ Matilda said. ‘I’ve finished all the children’s books.’ ‘You mean you’ve looked at the pictures?’ ‘Yes, but I’ve read the books as well.’ Mrs Phelps looked down at Matilda from her great height and Matilda looked right back up at her. ‘I thought some were very poor,’ Matilda said, ‘but others were lovely. I liked The Secret Garden best of all. It was full of mystery. The mystery of the room behind the closed door and the mystery of the garden behind the big wall.’ Mrs Phelps was stunned. ‘Exactly how old are you, Matilda?’ she asked. ‘Four years and three months,’ Matilda said. Mrs Phelps was more stunned than ever, but she had the sense not to show it. ‘What sort of a book would you like to read next?’ she asked. Matilda said, ‘I would like a really good one that grown-ups read. A famous one. I don’t know any names.’ Mrs Phelps looked along the shelves, taking her time. She didn’t quite know what to bring out. How, she asked herself, does one choose a famous grown-up book for a four-year-old girl? Her first thought was to pick a young teenager’s romance of the kind that is written for fifteen-year-old school-girls, but for some reason she found herself instinctively walking past that particular shelf. ‘Try this,’ she said at last. ‘It’s very famous and very good. If it’s too long for you, just let me know and I’ll find something shorter and a bit easier.’ ‘Great Expectations,’ Matilda read, ‘by Charles Dickens'.

In depth language analysis

6. Work with your partner. What two verb forms make up the verb phrases you have underlined? 7. How is this form different from the others in the text? "Mrs Phelps, who had been watching her with fascination for the past few weeks, now got up from her desk and went over to her." 8. What three verb forms make up the verb phrase in 7? 9. Could you deduce the structure of a negative sentence usig this verb tense? There is another past tense in English that resembles the structure of the Past Perfect. Could you name this tense? 10. Now that you have an example of a similar tense, how do you think we form interrogative sentences with the past perfect?

Answers to the grammar questions

6. to have in the past form + a verb in the past participle 7. It is a continuous form. 8. to have in the past form + verb to be in the past participle + verb in the gerund. 9. hadn't + verb in the past participle. Hadn't stays the same for all subjects and so does the verb in the past participle. Present Perfect.  10. Present perfect interrogative sentence: Have you ever been to New York? Has she ever been to London? Past perfect interrogative sentence: Had you ever been to New York before? Had she ever been to London before? The only difference is that "had" doesn't change with he/she/it. We do NOT use the auxiliary verb "do, did" to form questions or negative sentences in the perfect tenses. "Have" is the auxiliary in this case.  

Uses of the Past Perfect

11. Look at the examples of the verbs in past perfect in the text. With a partner, try to work out what we use it for. 12. Is there only one use to it or more than one? How about the past perfect continuous? 13. Does the phrase "By the time" trigger the use of the past perfect? How or why? Is there any other time phrase in the text that does the same function? 14. What type of text is it? Why do you think the author uses the past perfect in this text? 15. What other tense is the past perfect used in combination with most of the time?  

Speaking

Make groups of 3 where, preferably, one person in the group knows Roald Dahl or/and has read one or some of his books. 1. Have you read Matilda? if so, when? did you like it? why/why not? 2. If you have read Matilda, explain the main plot of the book to your group. if more than one person in your group has read it, explain it to the other person between the two of you. If none of you has read it, look it up on the internet. 3. Have you read any other books by Roald Dahl? Which? Which one did you like most and least? Why?  If you haven't read any other books by Roald Dahl and you don't know any titles of his books, look it up online and decide which one you would like to read based on the plots. 4. Do you like reading? what's your favourite genre? who is your favourite author? why? Explain the plot of your favourite book. 5. Do you think reading is important? why/why not? 6. Do you think writing is important? why/why not? 7. Do you think Roald Dahl's books are only for children? why/why not? 8. Ask your group 3 other questions related to books and reading. 9. Write down a summary of the plot of 3 or 4 famous books. Do not give away names of characters or extremely obvious clues. Do not say the title of the book. Read aloud your summaries to the rest of the class and your classmates must guess what book you are describing.