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PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS VS PAST PERFECT - Coggle Diagram
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS VS PAST PERFECT
PAST PERFECT
Use
When you want to talk about an action that happens before another one in the past but it is emphasised the action rather than the duration
EXAMPLE: I'd run to Molly's house but when I got there she was gone
The past perfect refers to time up to a point in the past (time up to then)
EXAMPLE: I'd been to Miami by 2001
You must use the past perfect when we imagine a different past in a clause with if (third or mixed conditional)
EXAMPLE: If I had studied, I might've passed the exam
STRUCTURE
Subject + had + verb (past participle) + C
PAST PERECT CONTINUOUS
USE
When it is emphazised the duration of an action that started in the past and continued up until another time in the past
EXAMPLE: I'd been calling my sister for 3 hours but I had no answers
When you want to show the relationship cause/effect
Example: I was very upset since my aunt had been yelling at me
You can also use past perfect continuous to talk about events which started before a time in the past and which finished, but where the effects or results were still important at a point in the past
EXAMPLE: It'd been raining a lot and the ground wasn't dry at all
STRUCTURE
Subject + had + been + verb (ing) + C
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOTH SENTENCES
We use the past perfect simple with action verbs to emphasise the completion of an event.
We use the past perfect continuous to show that an event or action in the past was still continuing
SIMILARITIES
Both refer to past actions or statements that occurred before other past actions.
Boths sentences can be used in reported speech
In both sentences, the auxiliary verb "have" is in its past form