Hi, in today’s lesson you will learn the difference between the past continuous
and the past perfect continuous.
So, the difference between, "The cat was sleeping," that's the past continuous
and "The cat had been sleeping," the past perfect continuous.
It can be very confusing, right?
Both show a past action.
Both tenses are continuous, so describe an action in progress
and both tenses are good for writing narratives.
So, you need to know them!
If you want to look at each tense individually in more detail, you can click the link up here now.
But what is the difference between them?
The major difference is the point of reference in the past.
So, what do I mean by that?
Well, the past continuous is used to describe an action that was in progress at a specific point in the past.
While the past perfect continuous is used to describe an action that had been in progress
for a certain period of time BEFORE another action.
It is important to choose the right tense
because whether you use the past continuous or the past perfect continuous,
it can make a big difference in the meaning you want to convey.
Let’s compare two sentences.
The cat was sleeping when its owner came home and
The cat had been sleeping when the owner came home.
In the first sentence, we are using the past continuous with the past simple.
Sometimes called the interrupted past continuous
because when we use the past continuous, we are describing an action that is interrupted by
the owner coming home.
On a time line it looks like this:
Here we have the cat sleeping, this is the longer action in the past continuous and
it's interrupted by the short action of the owner coming home.
So, here in the past simple.
However, the cat may continue to sleep after the owner returns.
Whereas in this example, "The cat had been sleeping when the owner came home."
This sentence uses the past perfect continuous
Here, we are emphasising that the cat had started sleeping before the owner came home.
It may continue sleeping after the owner returned
but it stopped at some point after the owner came home.
Let’s look at another example,
I was studying when my friend called and
I had been studying for two hours when my friend called.
In the first sentence, we have the past continuous tense.
This means that at the time that my friend called, the action of studying was still in progress.
Whereas, in the second sentence using the past perfect continuous,
this means that BEFORE the friend called, the action of studying had been in progress
for two hours.
The past perfect continuous tense also puts an emphasis on the idea of duration,
using either for or since, in this case for two hours.
Let’s look at two more sentences.
"We were cleaning the house when the doorbell rang" and
"We had been cleaning the house since 10am when the doorbell rang."
In the first sentence, we are using the interrupted past continuous with the past simple.
We may continue to clean the house after the doorbell rang.
The past continuous tense expresses an action at a particular moment in the past.
The action started before that moment but has not finished at that moment.
Whereas in the second sentence, using the past perfect continuous,
we are showing that something began in the past,
continued in the past,
and also ended at a defined point in the past.
Again, putting an emphasis on the idea of duration, since 10am.
Let’s look at two more sentences.
I was studying medicine and
I had been studying medicine before I went to university.
In the first sentence, the past continuous is used to talk about an activity that takes place in the past,
that is, before now.
On a timeline, we can see “I was studying medicine” just means that,
some time before now,
I was engaged in the activity of studying medicine.
In the second sentence, the past perfect continuous is used to talk about an activity that takes place before something else in the past.
“I had been studying medicine” means that, at some time before something else in the
past, I had been engaged in the activity of studying medicine.
In this case, the second past event is “I went to university”.
Let’s look at two more sentences.
We stopped by the house where my mother was living and left some flowers for her there and
We stopped by the house where my mother had been living to see if the new people had received any mail for her.
In the first sentence, the mother is still living in the house.
In the second sentence, she is no longer living in the house.
The past perfect continuous can also show results and consequences of an action.
For example, I had been eating all day so I wasn’t hungry.
Here the consequence of eating all day was that you weren’t hungry.
Here you couldn’t say,
I was eating all day so I wasn’t hungry.
It just doesn't work.
Sometimes it is possible to choose more than one tense and there is no noticeable difference
in meaning.
maybe the writer wants to emphasise different things.
I explained where I was sitting when the lights went out, or
I explained where I had been sitting when the lights went out.
Here there is little difference in the meaning.
It's just a question of emphasis from the writer.
So now it’s your turn.
Explain the difference in meaning between the following sentences.
She’d been painting the room when she was taken to hospital, or
She was painting the room when she was taken to hospital.
In the first sentence, she had recently stopped painting the room,
but not that she had necessarily finished the work.
Here the emphasis is that she was painting the room BEFORE she was taken to hospital.
it also focusses the attention of the reader on the duration of the activity of painting.
In the second sentence, the task of painting the room was begun but not finished.
It was an interrupted past continuous.
In some contexts, we could choose between the two without significantly affecting the meaning.
2. Alice beat Edward at chess because she was practicing and
Alice beat Edward at chess because she had been practicing.
Here, the past perfect continuous is correct,
Alice beat Edward at chess because she had been practising.
It is referring to the action of practising which took place before she beat Edward at chess.
3.Which sentence is correct?
Rob was living in the same house for five years,
before he redecorated the sitting room and
Rob had been living in the same house for five years
before he redecorated the sitting room.
Which one is correct?
Write your answer down below, and why and I promise to give you feedback on your answer.
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So that's it for today. Take care and see you very soon. Bye, bye!