PAST PERFECT SIMPLE AND CONTINUOUS

Past perfect continuous

Past perfect simple

Contrast and compare

Form

Form

Subject +had + been + -ing verb.

Subject +had + the -ed (past participle).

Uses

Uses

Emphasises an ongoing action in the past The builders had been putting up the scaffolding when the roof fell in. Focuses on the duration of the activity I’d been waiting an hour for the bus. Suggests a temporary situation She’d been living with her parents. NOT with some verbs of mental process (know, like, understand, believe) and verbs of the senses (hear, smell, taste): We’d known for a long time that the company was going to close. Not: We’d been knowing … Expressions with for and since I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode.

Time up to then I’d been to five countries in Europe by 2001.> Past perfect: ‘time up to then’ (2001). Reported clauses “Mr Hammond drove through a red light.” > The policeman said Mr Hammond had driven through a red light. Reporting verb of perception The doctor felt my mother had got worse since last week. Situations which have changed I had planned to go to the beach but look at the rain! When we imagine a different past in a clause with if: I would have helped to paint the house if you’d asked me. (You didn’t ask me.)

Related to past events

¿Tienes una idea?

Plásmala en una ventana

Crea una nueva capa de contenido con todas las funcionalidades de Genially.

• Genera experiencias con tu contenido.
• Tiene efecto WOW. Muy WOW.
• Logra que tu público recuerde el mensaje.
• Activa y sorprende a tu audiencia.

Main use

To talk about an event that continued for a period of time before another event in the past.

The band had been playing for 20 minutes when I got to the concert.

We also use the past perfect continuous to show the cause or result of something in the past. After the concert, I was exhausted because I had been standing for so long!

Main use

Organise events in the past

1. When I arrived, the film had already started.2. I arrived after the film had started.

It explains an event that happend before another in the past.

• We use it with "when" / "before" + past simple. (1)
• We use it with "after" + past perfect. (2)

¿Tienes una idea?

Plásmala en una ventana

Crea una nueva capa de contenido con todas las funcionalidades de Genially.

• Genera experiencias con tu contenido.
• Tiene efecto WOW. Muy WOW.
• Logra que tu público recuerde el mensaje.
• Activa y sorprende a tu audiencia.