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Unit 2 Lesson 2

The document discusses the difference between the past perfect simple and past perfect continuous tenses in English. The past perfect simple is used to talk about completed actions or states that occurred before a time in the past. The past perfect continuous is used to talk about ongoing or durative actions that started in the past and continued up to another time in the past but may not have been completed. It provides examples of using each tense correctly and concludes with a homework exercise to practice using the two tenses.

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Zorica Arnaudova
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101 views2 pages

Unit 2 Lesson 2

The document discusses the difference between the past perfect simple and past perfect continuous tenses in English. The past perfect simple is used to talk about completed actions or states that occurred before a time in the past. The past perfect continuous is used to talk about ongoing or durative actions that started in the past and continued up to another time in the past but may not have been completed. It provides examples of using each tense correctly and concludes with a homework exercise to practice using the two tenses.

Uploaded by

Zorica Arnaudova
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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PAST PERFECT SIMPLE VS.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

(+) subject + had + past participle (+) subject + had been + verb + ing
(-) subject + hadn’t + past participle (-) subject + hadn’t been + verb + ing
(?) had + subject + past participle (?) had + subject + been + verb + ing

Past Perfect Simple


We use the Past Perfect Simple:
• to talk about actions that happened before a particular time or event in the past (for which we
usually use the Past Simple):
When I arrived at the wedding reception, the bride’s father had already made his speech.
By the age of sixteen, he had learnt to speak three foreign languages.

• to talk about states that were true or happening before a particular time in the past:
When my parents got married, they had known each other for fifteen years.

Past Perfect Continuous


We use the Past Perfect Continuous to talk about actions that were in progress up to a particular
time in the past (or finished shortly before it):
The guests had been waiting in front of the church for forty minutes before the bus picked them
up.
We hadn’t been thinking about selling the house, but then we got this great offer.
How long had you been watching me before I woke up?
Past Perfect Simple vs Past Perfect Continuous
• We use the Past Perfect Simple:
• to talk about finished actions:
My father had visited his Scottish relatives twice before he finally went to live with them.
• to talk about states using stative verbs, e.g. be, have, know, see, believe:
I had never seen such a magnificent church before I visited St Paul’s Cathedral.
• We use the Past Perfect Continuous to talk about actions but not states. We stress the duration
of the action rather than the result:
We had been waiting for three hours when they finally arrived.

HOMEWORK!!!

Complete the sentences with the Past Perfect Simple or Continuous form of the verbs in brackets.
1 The roads were wet this morning. It had been raining (rain) all night.
2 Yesterday I was tired. I (not sleep) well the night before.
3 I went to the doctor last week because I (not feel) well.
4 I (have) the same phone for ages, so I got a new one last month.
5 I didn’t understand yesterday’s homework because I (not listen) to the teacher in class.
6 By the time I arrived , the lesson (already/start).

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