past perfect continuous

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• Middelbare school
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• Leerjaar 4

Past Perfect Continuous 

Past tenses recap

past perfect continuous

Another planet [...] by the Americans (to discover, past perfect passive)

1. discovered
2. was discovered
3. had been discovered
4. is discovered

Last summer, the little girl [...] the window (to break)

1. had been broken
2. had broken
3. was broken
4. broke

Past Perfect

How: had + past participle 

When: an event took place in the past before another past event 

(two events, one past simple (2) & one past perfect (1))

The police had never arrested me before I went to that party 

Past Simple

How: verb+ed / irregular verb 2nd column

When: something happened at one point in the past and ended

(last week, in 2012, yesterday etc.)

(Last week,) the police arrested him 

past perfect continuous

How: Past perfect + continuous

     had + been (pp) + -ing

When: something had been going on in the past for a while (continuous) when something else in the past happened. 

I had been trying to get tickets for that play for months, and I nearly missed it

ppc vs past continuous

He was tired because he was exercising so hard.

This sentence emphasizes that he was tired because he was exercising at that exact moment.

He was tired because he had been exercising so hard.

This sentence emphasizes that he was tired because he had been exercising over a period of time. It is possible that he was still exercising at that moment OR that he had just finished.

 Past continuous emphasizes interrupted actions, whereas past perfect continuous emphasizes a duration of time before something in the past.

He was bored because it [...]
all day. (rain)

Her German was good because
she [...]
it for years. (study)

Practise makes perfect

Choose between the past perfect or past perfect continuous

So: short event in the past or a continuous event in the past

The milk smelt bad because
I [...] to put it in the fridge. (forget)

He [...] TV for hours before he fell asleep. (watch)

He [...] for 40 years before he decided to stop. (to smoke)

She was delighted because her wish
[...] true. (come)

Wrap up

Past simple :verb+ed / irregular verb 2nd column  -- walked

He walked to school every day

past perfect: had + past participle (voltooid deelwoord) -- had walked

He had walked to school every day before he got a car

Past perfect continuous: had been + ing  -- had been walking

He had been walking to school every day for a year before he got a car

Exercises on all verb tenses: www.englishpage.com