Answer:
1. Maria Harris has stayed in a rented flat since returning to Liverpool.
2. This was the first time we had been to the castle. Even though we had visited Edinburgh a few times before.
3. I did 20 lengths of the pool today. I haven’t swum that far since I was at school.
4. Meg James had been writing children’s stories for 10 years when she got her first book published.
5. Good, the noise has stopped I can start concentrating on my work again.
6. For some time Mark had been worrying about passing the exams and eventually decided to change the course he was taking.
7. As house prices in the cities have risen, people have been moving into the countryside.
8. My teacher was really annoyed with me. It was the third time I had arrived late for school that week.
9. I had swum and I feel exhausted.
10. I had always believed it would be easy to get a job, and was disappointed to be rejected.
11. He has been playing football all afternoon and needs a shower!
12. When I last saw John, he had been running and was out of breath.
13. We had owned the car for 6 months before we discovered it was stolen.
14. I have been reading this book on astrophysics for hours and I’m still only on page 6.
15. I have not liked ice cream since I ate too much and was sick.