hi, i have some difficulties with the appropriate tense to use after the pattern:“it was the first time”.given that we generally use the past perfect.but in the following sentence it wasn’t the case:In last night’s final Mark peters defeated Ed Myers in 3 sets.“It was the first time” in six attempts that peters has beaten the world champion. till now i haven’t a right answer :?: thank you in advance for the whole explanations.
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There is no necessity for “It was the first time” to be followed by past perfect, though no doubt it is a common occurrence.
I’ll always remember June 13th, 1967. It was the first time I tried alcohol.
I’ll never forget this morning. It was the first time I have ever won the lottery.
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i have seen your answer about the tense used after the pattern: “it was the first time” , so my question is the following: how do we know which is the right tense to use? is there a rule? :?: :?: 
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No more rule than with other verb forms-- it depends on the time of the action and its relationship to the present (past, present perfect) or to another past action (past perfect). If you do not limit the time frame by using ‘was’, then we can use other tenses:
This is the first time I have smoked a cigar.
Tomorrow will be the first time I ski.
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right, but for example in the following sentence: In last night’s final Mark peters defeated Ed Myers in 3 sets.“It was the first time” in six attempts that peters has beaten the world champion.thank you in advance for the whole explanations.which word or thing indicates us to use the past perfect?
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There is no past perfect in your sentence. The present perfect (‘has beaten’) is used because the truth holds up until now and beatings may continue into the future.
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thank you for your answer , nevertheless, i have noticed a rule which works in all examples this one consists in forgetting the expression “it was (is) the first time” in the sentence and put the right tense which follows it according to the rules use of each tense.However, i would like to check the validity of my idea with you.thank you.
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No, because the tense of the main clause affects the tense of the second also. You cannot, for instance, write “This was the first time I will be sick”.
Which is right out of the two below?
This was the first time I am sick.
This was the first time I was sick.
Er. SM.M.Haniifa
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That was the first time I have been sick.
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Sorry but i still be convinced that my principle works , but we just should respect a certain number of rules i have found those ones from A New English Grammar Course Book in the net :3) Perfective aspect in “it is the first time + that-clause”
In the that-clause following “it is/ will be the first time”, the verb usually occurs in the present perfect. If the verb in the following that-clause in the past tense of the verb be (was), the verb in the following that-clause should be the past perfective, or occasionally the simple past. It may also occur in the present perfect in case the main clause contains a temporal adverbial of the time of speaking. Compare:
it’s the first time I’ve been here.
Don’t forget, it’ll be the first time I’ve spoken in public.
It was the first time she’d been at a summer school and she thoroughly enjoyed it.
It was the first time [color=orange]this year he hadn’t worked / hasn’t worked on a Saturday.