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A college graduate at 95: time clauses with when, before and after

Time clauses with when, before and after join two past events in this A2 ESL lesson plan about learning at any age.

Grammar
When, before and after + a person and a past verb (After she graduated, she started a master's degree.), the past simple in both parts, and a comma only when the time clause comes first.
Topic
Nola Ochs, who raised four sons on a Kansas farm and graduated from Fort Hays State University at 95, with words such as graduate, diploma, ceremony and campus.
Activities
A news story, a video call and Grandpa's last challenge, self-checking drills, a chat about a grandmother's graduation and open-box life-story questions.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Caps on, everybody!

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: graduation dayVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and chooseChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: a graduate at 95

    • Look at the photo: graduation dayPictureUnlock
    • Read the news storyReal-life documentTry it
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the right answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: a call from Kansas

    • Listen to Nora and Grandpa WaltListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to Grandpa's ChallengeListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: when, before, after

    • Study the scheme: when, before, afterGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: past simpleFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: when, before or afterFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the right sentenceQuizUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: the best day ever

    • Choose the right replies: Grandpa's last challengeChatTry it
    • Open a box and answer: life storiesOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework: the season finale

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gapsDrag and dropUnlock
    • Put the words in the right orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: past simpleFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the right answerQuizUnlock
    • Read our last post and choose the right wordsChoose the optionUnlock
    • Match the beginnings and the endingsMatchUnlock

29 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

10 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • diploma
  • ceremony
  • campus
  • wheat
  • combine
  • mascot
  • cruise ship

Grammar: time clauses with when, before and after

A time clause starts with a word such as when, before or after and tells when the main event happened: When she was 95, she graduated. Retelling a real life that runs from a Kansas farm to a college ceremony, learners link two past events with one time word, keep both verbs in the past simple and put the comma where it belongs.

When she was 95, she graduated.

Join two past events with when, before or after. Both verbs are in the past simple.

When, before and after on a timeline

When means at that time, before means earlier and after means later. Before she graduated, she took classes for more than 30 years. The time word goes with the event it names: in After she graduated, she started a master's degree, graduating came first.

Nola's story

pastfuturenow
  • before she graduated: she took classes
  • when she graduated: she was 95
  • after she graduated: a master's degree

Three time words

WordIt means…Example
whenat that timeWhen she was 95, she graduated.
beforeearlierBefore she graduated, she took classes for more than 30 years.
afterlaterAfter she graduated, she started a master's degree.

Where does the comma go?

A time clause at the start takes a comma: When she was 95, she graduated. After Grandpa retired, he baked pies. When the time clause comes second, it needs none: She graduated when she was 95. Grandpa baked pies after he retired.

Time word first: a comma

  • When she was 95, she graduated.
  • After Grandpa retired, he baked pies.

Time word in the middle: no comma

  • She graduated when she was 95.
  • Grandpa baked pies after he retired.

A person and a past verb after the time word

After when, before or after, put a person or a thing and a past verb: after she graduated, not after graduate; before she started, not before to start. In a story about the past, both verbs are past: When I was young, I lived on a farm.

Every person

Whowhen + was / wereafter + past verb
IWhen I was young, I lived on a farm.After I graduated, I moved to Hays.
youWhen you were young, you lived on a farm.After you graduated, you moved to Hays.
he / she / itWhen she was young, she lived on a farm.After he graduated, he moved to Hays.
weWhen we were young, we lived on a farm.After we graduated, we moved to Hays.
theyWhen they were young, they lived on a farm.After they graduated, they moved to Hays.

Both verbs in the past

In a story about the past, both parts are in the past simple: When she graduated, she was 95. After when, before or after, put a person or a thing and a past verb: after she graduated (not: after graduate), before she started (not: before to start), after the trip ended. Before and after can also go with only a noun: after the trip, before the ceremony.

Join the events with a time word

Two past events need a time word to join them, not just a comma: When she moved to Hays, she lived on the campus, not She moved to Hays, she lived on the campus. Before or after can also take a noun: After the trip, Grandpa drove trucks.

Common mistakes

  • When she was 95, she graduates.

    When she was 95, she graduated.

    a past story: both verbs in the past

  • After graduate, she started a master's degree.

    After she graduated, she started a master's degree.

    after + a person + a past verb

  • Before to start college, she lived on a farm.

    Before she started college, she lived on a farm.

    before + a person + a past verb, no to

  • She moved to Hays, she lived on the campus.

    When she moved to Hays, she lived on the campus.

    join two past events with a time word

Life stories

  • When Grandpa was 22, he drove across America.
  • Before Nola moved to Hays, she took classes for many years.
  • After the trip, Grandpa drove trucks.
  • Nola was 98 when she finished her master's degree.

More lessons on this grammar: Linking words lessons and exercises

Try the time clauses exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 16 auto-checked exercises
  • 4 games
  • 1 real-life document
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • link two past events with when: When she was 95, she graduated.
  • put events in order with before and after: Before she started college, she worked in a bakery. After she graduated, she became a math teacher.
  • keep both verbs in the past simple, with a person after the time word: after she graduated, not after graduate
  • place the comma: After the class ended, we went home. She graduated when she was 95.

Lesson 32 closes Plans and dreams and with it English A2.1 · Then and Now. It builds on the past simple of the course's first unit, regular verbs in lesson 1 and irregular ones such as drove and left in lesson 2, and now joins two past events in one sentence. When comes back in A2.2 lesson 10, with while and the past continuous. A life story that runs from 1911 to a master's degree at 98 gives every time word real events to link.

A spin-the-wheel warm-up asks about school days and older relatives. Ten words with pictures and audio follow, from graduate and retire to combine and mascot. The reading is a news story about Nola Ochs, who took college classes for more than 30 years and graduated at 95, at the same ceremony as her granddaughter. Nora then video-calls her grandpa from the Fort Hays State campus (an AI-voiced dialogue); his voice message brings the last challenge. The scheme comes with four drills that mark themselves, including a table that links pairs of events. Students then answer Nora's chat questions about a grandmother's graduation day and open boxes of life-story questions.

The eight homework tasks check themselves: vocabulary games, word order, a past simple gap-fill, a quiz on picking the time word, a channel post with the right words to choose and beginnings to match with endings.

Grammar:
when, before, after · time clauses · past simple · the comma after a time clause
Topic:
Nola Ochs · Fort Hays State University · Hays, Kansas · graduation · learning at any age · Pomp and Circumstance

Teaching tips

  • Draw a timeline of Nola Ochs's life before the reading: mark 1911, the 1970s, 2007 and 2010, and students guess what happened at each point. The news story has the answers.
  • Count the time words in the video call: students raise a hand at each when or after, as in After the trip, I drove trucks. When I retired, I baked pies!
  • Cut a sentence in two to show the comma: When she was 95, on one strip and she graduated. on the other. Students swap the strips and decide whether the comma stays.
  • Send students to someone over 80: they ask about the best day of that person's life, then tell the class with when, before and after, as the last challenge in the lesson asks.

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The whole course: English A2.1 · Then and Now

32 lessons for adults at A2 in simple American English, from the past simple to going to, should and might. Eight units tell stories of journeys, American firsts, food, places, sports, music, neighbors and dreams. Pictures and definitions replace translations, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Amazing journeys

    the past simple, regular and irregular verbs, negatives, prepositions of movement

    1. Lesson 1Around the world in 72 daysThe past simple of regular verbs
    2. Lesson 2The first drive across AmericaIrregular verbs in the past simple
    3. Lesson 3Get your kicks on Route 66Past simple negatives with didn't
    4. Lesson 4She walked 2,000 miles in sneakersPrepositions of movement

  2. Unit 2 American firsts

    was and were, past questions and short answers, ago and in, could for past ability

    1. Lesson 5The first American woman in spaceWas, were, there was and there were
    2. Lesson 6A real bug in the computerPast simple questions with did
    3. Lesson 7“Mr. Watson, come here”Wh- questions in the past simple
    4. Lesson 8Twelve seconds in the airCould and couldn't for past ability

  3. Unit 3 American food

    countable and uncountable nouns, comparatives, ordering food, a few and a little

    1. Lesson 9The first chocolate chip cookieCountable and uncountable nouns in a recipe
    2. Lesson 10Is a jalapeño hotter than a habanero?Comparatives of short adjectives
    3. Lesson 11Two eggs, sunny side up!Offers and orders with would like
    4. Lesson 12Cooking for twenty on ThanksgivingA few, a little and a lot of

  4. Unit 4 City or country?

    comparatives with more and less, superlatives, as … as, too and enough

    1. Lesson 13The island with no carsComparatives with more and less, plus better, worse and farther
    2. Lesson 14America's extremesSuperlatives with the + -est, the most and the least
    3. Lesson 15San Francisco or Yosemite? You choose!As … as for the same, not as … as for less
    4. Lesson 16A park on an old railroadToo, enough and not … enough

  5. Unit 5 Game on

    play, go and do with sports, going to, adverbs of manner, reflexive pronouns

    1. Lesson 17Basketball started with peach baskets?Play, go and do with sports
    2. Lesson 18What's going to happen at LA 2028?Be going to for plans and predictions
    3. Lesson 19Pickleball: a game from a backyardAdverbs of manner
    4. Lesson 20Be brave and tryReflexive pronouns and each other

  6. Unit 6 Music and nights out

    love, enjoy and hate + -ing, the present continuous for plans, suggestions, to for purpose

    1. Lesson 21Where jazz was bornGerunds after love, like, enjoy, hate and don't mind
    2. Lesson 22Music on every streetThe present continuous for future arrangements
    3. Lesson 23A night on BroadwaySuggestions with Let's, Why don't we and How about
    4. Lesson 24An orchestra for every kidThe infinitive of purpose and to or for

  7. Unit 7 Neighbors and community

    much and many, should, something and everyone, because and so

    1. Lesson 25Everybody cleans up!Much and many with nouns you can and can't count
    2. Lesson 26Good neighbors shovel snowShould and shouldn't + the base verb
    3. Lesson 27Take a book, leave a bookIndefinite pronouns with some-, any-, no- and every-
    4. Lesson 28A bench for making friendsBecause for reasons, so for results

  8. Unit 8 Plans and dreams

    verb + to, the present continuous vs going to, might, when, before and after

    1. Lesson 29Never give up: from farm fields to spaceVerb + to + the base form
    2. Lesson 30Across America by trainGoing to and the present continuous for the future
    3. Lesson 31Open in the year 6939Might and might not for possibility
    4. Lesson 32 · you're hereA college graduate at 95Time clauses with when, before and after

Questions about this lesson

How do you use before and after in a sentence?
Start the clause with before or after, then a subject and verb, or put a noun after them: Before she started college, she worked in a bakery. After the trip, he drove trucks. In a past story, the verbs in both halves are past. The clause can come first, with a comma, or second, with none: She got a job after she finished college.
What is a time clause?
A time clause is the part of a sentence that says when, starting with a word such as when, before, after or while. It has a subject and a verb but can't stand alone: when she was 95. Join it to a main clause: When she was 95, she graduated. For the future, the time clause stays in the present: after I retire, not after I will retire.
What are some examples of time clauses?
Common examples start with when, before or after: when she was 95, before she moved to Hays, after she graduated. In full sentences: When Nola moved to Hays, she lived on the campus. She took classes for more than 30 years before she graduated. Nola was 98 when she finished her master's degree. The A2 lesson A college graduate at 95 on edio.ai draws them all from one real life story.
How do you use when, before and after in the past?
In a past story, both halves of the sentence take the past simple: When she was 95, she graduated. Before my sister went to college, she worked in a café. Don't slip into the present in one half: When she was 95, she graduates is wrong. When means at that time, before means earlier and after means later.
What's the difference between after and before?
After introduces the first action; before, the second. In After she graduated, she started a master's degree, graduating came first. In Before she graduated, she took classes for more than 30 years, the classes came first. Swapping the words flips the order, so check which event happened earlier. A homework quiz in A college graduate at 95, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, gives two events in order and asks for the sentence that matches.
Do you put a comma after a time clause?
Yes, when the time clause comes first: After the class ended, we went home. When it comes second, leave the comma out: She graduated when she was 95. The comma goes after the whole clause, never straight after the time word, so After, the class ended we went home is wrong. The rule is the same for all three time words.
Is it "after graduate" or "after she graduated"?
It's after she graduated, with a subject and a past verb. A time word that starts a clause needs both, so after graduate and before to start are wrong: say before she started college. With no subject, use a noun or an -ing form instead: after graduation, after graduating. In the chat of A college graduate at 95, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, After graduate, she became a math teacher is one of the wrong replies.
What words do you need to talk about a graduation?
Graduation talk needs words for the event, the clothes and the paper: a ceremony on the college campus, a cap and gown (a square hat and a long robe) and the diploma each graduate receives. The verb is graduate: She graduated from college in May. In the US, high schools hold graduations too, and graduates often walk in to the slow march Pomp and Circumstance.
How do I teach time clauses to A2 students?
Start with a timeline of one real life, mark three events and ask what happened at each one and around it. Then join pairs of events into sentences, first with the time clause at the start and a comma, then at the end with none. Keep both verbs in the past simple. A college graduate at 95, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, opens its scheme with such a timeline: classes, graduation, a master's degree.
What's a good game for practicing when, before and after?
A beginnings-and-endings match works well: write halves such as Before the ceremony started, and the graduates put on their caps and gowns. on cards, and players race to pair them. For speaking, students ask a partner about the best day of a grandparent's life: When was it? What happened? The partner answers with at least one when and one after.
What's good homework for practicing time clauses?
Good homework has students order events and choose the time word: First, he cooked dinner. Then he washed the dishes. becomes After he cooked dinner, he washed the dishes. All the homework in A college graduate at 95 on edio.ai marks itself: word games, word order with the comma in place, a past simple gap-fill, a time-word quiz, a channel post and a beginnings-and-endings match.
Are there interactive exercises for time clauses?
Yes, and drills that react to each answer suit time clauses well. Four parts of A college graduate at 95, an A2 lesson on edio.ai, are playable here without an account: the news story about Nola Ochs, a video call from the Fort Hays State campus, a past simple gap-fill built on when, before and after, and a chat about a grandmother's graduation day. The table that links events is locked, like the rest.
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