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Lesson planC160 minsNew. New: checked automatically for level, grammar, facts and originality; a teacher's review is still to come. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Having Taken the Plunge: perfect participle clauses
Students learn perfect participle clauses, like having saved, to describe how small businesses started, then write a profile of a business for a magazine.
Participle clauses · Business · Start ups
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Plan at a glance
Aims
- Use perfect participle clause accurately
- Learn and use 8 words and phrases in one set: Starting a business
- Read for detail: a business profile
- Writing task: a business profile
Stages · 60 min
- 5 minLead-in: Pairs talk about business and share ideas with the class.
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 1
- 5 minLanguage focus: Go through the grammar notes together and check understanding.
- 5 minControlled practice: Ex. 2
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 3
- 5 minVocabulary: Ex. 4
- 5 minAccuracy practice: Ex. 5
- 10 minReading: Ex. 6
- 15 minWriting: Ex. 7
Printables
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Download all (ZIP, 4 PDFs)Grammar notes
Having + past participle
- A perfect participle clause shows that one action was finished before the next: After she had saved for years, she opened a café. → Having saved for years, she opened a café.
- It often also gives a reason: Having lost his job, Tom started his own company (= because he had lost his job).
Passive and negative
- Passive: Having been + past participle: Having been rejected by three banks, they tried crowdfunding.
- Negative: Not having + past participle (or Having never…): Not having run a business before, I made mistakes.
Watch out
- The subject of the participle clause must be the same as the subject of the main clause: Having signed the lease, they opened the shop (not Having signed the lease, the shop opened).
- Use the past participle after having: having spoken, having seen (not having spoke, having saw).
Study tips
- Use perfect participle clauses in formal writing (reports, cover letters, profiles) to show sequence concisely.
- Check the subject: who did the action in the Having clause? The same person must be the subject of the main clause.
Glossary
- Starting a business8 items
Complete the exercises, then check your answers.
1
Starting a business
Match each word with its meaning. There is one extra meaning.
Tap an item…
…then its match
2
Before or at the same time?
Does the participle clause describe an action finished before the main action, or one happening at the same time? Put each sentence in the right group.
- a
Smiling nervously, she walked into the investors' meeting.
- b
Holding the first box of products, the founders posed for a photo.
- c
Having been turned down twice, he rewrote the whole business plan.
- d
Having found suitable premises, they hired their first two staff.
- e
Listening carefully to customers, they kept improving the menu.
- f
Having never borrowed money before, Mia read every word of the contract.
- g
Working late every night, the team finished the app in a month.
- h
Having signed the lease, they started painting the walls.
3
Key word transformations
Complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first. Use the word in capitals and between two and five words, including the word given.
- a
After she had saved for five years, she opened her own café.
HAVING
for five years, she opened her own café.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- b
Because he had lost his job, Tom decided to start his own company.
LOST
his job, Tom decided to start his own company.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- c
Three banks had rejected them, so they turned to crowdfunding.
BEEN
by three banks, they turned to crowdfunding.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- d
Since I had never run a business before, I made a lot of mistakes.
NEVER
a business before, I made a lot of mistakes.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- e
When the founders had found suitable premises, they hired their first staff.
FOUND
suitable premises, the founders hired their first staff.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
- f
She didn't receive any replies, so she rewrote the business plan.
RECEIVED
Not any replies, she rewrote the business plan.
Use 2–5 words, including the word given.
4
Word formation
Use the word in capitals to form a word that fits the gap.
- a
Their first came from a family friend who believed in the idea.
INVEST - b
It took the bakery almost three years to become .
PROFIT - c
The market for plant-based snacks is extremely , with new brands appearing every month.
COMPETE - d
After a slow start, the company announced a major into three new cities.
EXPAND - e
Opening a restaurant without any experience is a very thing to do.
RISK - f
Of the twelve cafés that opened on our street that year, only two are still trading .
SUCCESS
5
Find and correct the mistake
Each sentence has one mistake. Write the correction.
- a
Having finish the course, she applied for a small business loan.
- b
Having spoke to several investors, they chose a small local fund.
- c
Having being turned down twice, she almost gave up on the idea.
- d
Have finished the prototype, they tested it on fifty customers.
- e
Having saving enough money, he finally handed in his notice.
- f
Having been launched the app, the team waited nervously for the first reviews.
6
Read: a business profile
Read the profile. Are the sentences true, false or not given?
Five years ago, Nadia and Leila Haddad were working in offices at opposite ends of the country, one in accounts and the other in a hospital laboratory. Today they run Crumb & Co., a bakery business with three shops and a van that supplies cafés across the region. The idea came during a long weekend at their parents' house. Having spent two days baking bread from their grandmother's recipes, the sisters joked about opening a shop. A month later, the joke had become a plan. Having worked out that they would need about £40,000 to get started, they put in their own savings and began looking for investors. It was not easy. Having been turned down by two banks, they almost gave up. "Every setback felt personal," Leila admits. "You think, if they don't believe in us, why should we?" The breakthrough came through a local business network, where a retired restaurant owner offered not only funding but advice. Having listened to their plan, he told them to start smaller: one van, no shop, and sell directly to cafés first. That advice turned out to be crucial. The van venture became profitable within eighteen months, which gave the sisters the confidence, and the figures, to apply for a lease on their first premises. Having learned from the van, they kept the menu short and opened only five days a week. Asked what advice they would give to other entrepreneurs, Nadia is direct: "Having a great product isn't enough. You need someone who has done it before to tell you what you're getting wrong."
- a
Before starting the business, the sisters lived and worked in the same city.
- b
The bread recipes they used that weekend came from their grandmother.
- c
The sisters needed around £40,000 to begin.
- d
The retired restaurant owner had once run a bakery himself.
- e
The investor advised them to open a shop as soon as possible.
- f
Their first shop is open seven days a week.
7
Write: a business profile
Write a short profile of a business.
Write a profile (160–200 words) of a small business, real or imagined, for a local business magazine. How did it start? What problems did the founders face, and how did they overcome them? Use at least three perfect participle clauses (Having saved… / Having been rejected… / Not having…). Word box: entrepreneur · venture · investor · funding · launch · profitable · setback · premises Example: Having worked in other people's kitchens for ten years, Marco decided it was time to launch his own venture…
Suggested minimum: 160 words
0 words · aim for at least 160
Spotted a mistake in this lesson?· tell us the exercise and item
Revise with a game
This lesson's own words and questions. Play on your own, or in teams on the classroom screen.
- Step UpAnswer the lesson's questions to climb to the top.
- Pair UpMatch the lesson's words to their meanings against the clock.
- SnapA word and a meaning: do they go together? Answer fast.
- Fix ItFind the mistake in each sentence, then correct it.
- Quiz BoardTeams choose questions worth 100 to 500 points.
- Retro arcadeWord Invaders, Word Snake, Word Maze and Word Crossing: classic arcade games with the lesson's words.
Glossary
The 8 words and phrases this lesson teaches, in one set.
Starting a business
- entrepreneur
- someone who starts their own business, often taking risks
- venture
- a new business activity that involves risk
- investor
- a person or organisation that puts money into a business to make a profit
- funding
- money given for a particular purpose
- launch
- to make a new product available to the public for the first time
- profitable
- making money; bringing in more than it costs
- setback
- a problem that delays or stops progress
- premises
- the building and land that a business uses
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