In today's lesson we're going to look at the difference between: The past continuous,
and the past perfect continuous. These tenses are also called: Past progressive
and past perfect progressive, same thing. At the end of this lesson I have a test for you, and I
really want you to tell me how you did on the test. Give me your score down below. My name's Arnel,
let's start. Let's start with the grammatical structures. We form the past continuous - Subject,
was or were, plus verb "ing". And remember, you need to choose was or were, depending on the subject.
Past perfect continuous - Subject, had been plus verb "ing".
And you can see we use had been, for every subject. That's easy. How do we form the negative?
Look where I put not. I was not talking, you are not talking. etc...
Had not been. I had not been talking, you had not been talking. etc... Let's look at those questions,
and if i'm going too quickly, you can always pause the video to look at those structures.
Was I talking? Were you talking?
Had she been talking? Had they been talking? So now, the grammatical structures are clear.
Okay, so what's the difference? I have two timelines, you can see the past,
and the present. In the first timeline, you can see two actions happening at the same
time. In the second timeline, an action continues and stops before another past action.
It was snowing, so I put on my winter boots. It had been snowing, so i put on my winter boots.
What's the difference? Past continuous. It was still snowing when i put on my winter boots.
Look out of the window, you can see it was snowing! The actions are happening at the same time.
In the second example, the snowing stopped, and then i put on my winter boots.
Usually with the past perfect continuous, there is evidence of that finished past action.
What's the evidence here? Well, the ground is covered in snow.
Janine was crying, so i gave her a hug. Janine had been crying, so i gave her a hug.
At the same. Time in the second example, Janine had stopped crying before i gave her a hug.
What evidence do I have? Well, there's a trash can full of tissues.
Maybe she has red eyes and a blotchy face.
Let's compare two more examples.
The teacher gave all of the students a treat because they were being very good.
I was really disappointed with my low score because I had been studying like crazy.
At the same time. Maybe the teacher was giving the students a treat while they were studying.
In the second example it's clear, the studying is done, I had my exam.
What evidence do I have? The disappointment. If you had been studying like crazy, you would also be
disappointed. Here I have the six sentences we just looked at. I have the past continuous structures
and the past perfect continuous structures. We can also see the past tense, past simple
tense. We normally use the past simple with these two tenses. The continuous tenses are the longer
actions, you can see that on the timelines. So why, why do we need the past simple with these tenses?
Well, with the past continuous it's giving you the background, the past simple is a main action.
Past continuous, background. Let's look at background for just a second. Background,
background, background. It was snowing, the wind was howling.
The fire was crackling and popping.
Ooh jazz music was playing. The past continuous is giving you the mood.
It's not the main action and you can see, there can be several things happening at the same time.
I sat in my favorite armchair, drank hot chocolate,
and read a book. The past simple gives you the main actions. Okay, let's get back to the lesson.
The past perfect continuous is an action that continues and stops before another
past action. How can we show that other past action? We need the past simple. And remember,
this finished past action can't be too far in the past compared to the past simple. Otherwise there's
no connection. No connection, no evidence, then it doesn't work. Let's compare two more sentences so
we can go into a bit more detail. I was feeling dizzy so i sat down and drank some water.
If you feel dizzy your head is spinning. I had been feeling dizzy in the evenings, so i
decided to book an appointment with my doctor. In the first example it's happening at the same time.
You might be asking yourself, but what if you were still dizzy when you called the doctor?
Yes. It's possible the actions can overlap. But the past perfect continuous can often emphasize a
longer action. You can see i added in the evenings, so it's clear that i had been feeling dizzy,
night after night after night... after night. Mini review: We often use the past continuous and
past perfect continuous with the past simple. The continuous actions are the longer actions.
The past continuous happens at the same time as another past action.
The past perfect continuous is an action that continues and stops before another past action.
But, the past perfect continuous can often emphasize a longer action.
Let's keep going. I have two new timelines: Past continuous, past perfect continuous.
These look the same, what's the difference? Both of these tenses can be an interrupted action. Let's
look at interruptions. What's an interruption? An interruption is something that stops the flow of
an action. If you're working an interruption can be the doorbell, an interruption can be a phone call,
an interruption can be your baby crying.
In grammar, how do we express an interruption?
We can use when, plus past simple. Again with that past simple.
The documentary crew was filming a reef when a sea turtle appeared.
The documentary crew had been filming for days when a sea turtle
finally appeared. What's the difference? They're both interrupted actions? In the first example,
I'm just telling you what was happening when a sea turtle appeared, it's giving you the background.
The past perfect continuous emphasizes duration, duration tells us how long. For
days! We don't do that with the past continuous. For days, for ten years, for five hours.
In the second example, maybe the documentary was about sea turtles and the documentary crew had
been waiting for days. You can see I added that to emphasize duration. I also added the word
finally, so you can really feel that they had been waiting a long time.
Let's compare two more examples. I was wrapping my sister's gift when she walked into the room, oh no!
I had been wrapping gifts for hours when i realized that i had forgotten to remove
the price tags! In the first one, that past continuous is supporting the main action.
The interruption is a surprise.
In the second example, I want you to feel my pain so i emphasize the duration. I had been wrapping
gifts for hours. Now, I have to go back unwrap all of the gifts and remove the price tags.
And the duration doesn't have to be a long duration.
I had only been waiting for two minutes at the DMV when they called my name.
The DMV is the department of motor vehicles.
It's the government agency that deals with your driver's license and registration,
things like that. I have the five sentences we just looked at and we have one timeline.
For is a great way to show duration but there are other possibilities. The documentary crew had been
filming since Monday. The documentary crew had been filming all week. There are a lot of possibilities.
Does the interrupted action continue after the interruption? It depends on the context.
In the first two examples, yeah it continues. The documentary crew probably would have continued
filming. In the last example, no. The waiting is done, because it was my turn. And you can see,
when, when, when, when, when. That's a great way to show interruption.
But there are other possibilities, and other ways to show something happening before something else.
I had been working at bruce & bit for three years before i got my first promotion.
Before. By the time the firemen arrived, the fire alarm had been ringing for 45 minutes.
Everyone was having a good time until it started to rain. We need to look at one more thing before
the test. You know I can't speak about continuous tenses without mentioning stative verbs. I have two
columns, action verbs and stative verbs. Stative verbs are also called state verbs, same thing.
Run, play, eat, wash, swim. These are action verbs. These are verbs you can see and do. Like, love, want,
remember, believe, agree. These are stative verbs. Stative verbs express our emotions and our thoughts.
Why is this important? Because we don't use stative verbs in continuous tenses.
Of course there could be some exceptions, but as a general rule,
don't use stative verbs with continuous tenses. He had been believing in ghosts. Were you remembering?
He had believed in ghosts. Use a past perfect simple if it's a stative verb. Did you remember?
Use a past simple if it's a stative verb.
In this lesson, all the examples I gave you had an action verb.
How are you feeling? I know there's been a lot of information! Let's do another mini review before
the test. We use the past continuous and the past perfect continuous with the past simple.
The past continuous is happening at the same time as another action.
The past perfect continuous is an action that continued and stopped before another past action.
These two tenses can also be interrupted actions. What's the difference? The past perfect continuous
emphasizes duration. Also, avoid using these tenses with stative verbs. Are you ready for a test?
I have eight sentences here, choose the correct answer, pause the video to do this.
Here are the answers. Don't forget to let me know in the comments
how did you do? Did you get eight out of eight? Seven out of eight? I really hope
this lesson was helpful and i can't wait to see you next time. Thank you very much! Bye!