The past perfect is not used for an event that happened a long time ago in the past. Would can be used to describe habitual actions in the past, usually in writing. It does not make such a strong contrast with the present as used to. | FIRST CERTIFICATE LANGUAGE PRACTICE With individual items which represent a class. The lion is fast disappearing. With names of musical instruments that we can play. 7 can t play the piano but I can play the guitar. With some geographical names. In particular oceans seas rivers canals and regions. The Thames flows into the North Sea. the Arctic Also with plural countries or where the country name contains a noun. the Netherlands the People s Republic of China With superlatives ordinals the same the only. This is the best. You are the first. This is the only one. With media. What s on the television I went to the cinema. Zero article no article With uncountable nouns and plural countable nouns when we are talking generally. Give peace a chance. Football is life. I hate wasps. All he talks about is cars. With most continents countries states islands mountains lakes cities parks roads and streets squares bridges palaces castles cathedrals stations and airports. We live in France. We took the train from Paddington Station to Bath. But see previous section paragraph 9 for geographical names that use the definite article. With company names years months days and special times of the year. She works for Lufthansa. I ll see you in January. - With names of meals when we are talking generally. It s time for lunch. BUT The lunch I had at Cafe Sol was good value. What s for dinner BUT The dinner Sue gave us last night was delicious. With unique jobs or roles the definite article is also possible in these cases . Jim is the chairman of the company. With prepositions of place with certain buildings where the purpose of the building is more important than the place itself. Sally is in prison. she s a prisoner Sally is in the prison. she s a visitor to that specific building Similar are bed church class court hospital school university - With means of transport when we are talking generally. We went there by car. BUT We went there in the car that Alex borrowed. Note that if we use
