Have been waiting/had been waiting

Question

Good Morning everybodyhere there are a couple of questions for you.I'll give you them with some examples: 1. The date was set for today at 8 o'clok. Now it's 12 o'clok and nobody comes. I'm still waiting.Can I say "I've been waiting for 4 hours" ?2. I live in London since 2001 and I'm still living in London.Can I say : "I have been living in London for 10 years" ?3. The date was yesterday at 8 o'clock. I went there and waited but nobody came.Can I say: "I had been waiting all the day long" ?4. In 2005 I spent one month in London.Can I say: "In 2005 I had been linving in London for one month" ?

Cool Breeze · Accepted Answer

Petra Dolores1. The date was set for today at 8 o'clok. Now it's 12 o'clok and nobody comes. I'm still waiting.
Can I say "I've been waiting for 4 hours" ?

Yes.

Petra Dolores2. I have lived in London since 2001 and I'm still living in London.
Can I say : "I have been living in London for 10 years" ?

Yes, but I would prefer "I have lived in London for 10 years".

Petra Dolores3. The date was yesterday at 8 o'clock. I went there and waited but nobody came.
Can I say: "I had been waiting all the day long" ?

No. This is correct: "I waited all day [long].

We do say all the time but the article isn't usually used in these expressions:

I waited all week, all day, all morning etc.

Petra Dolores4. In 2005 I spent one month in London.
Can I say: "In 2005 I had been linving in London for one month" ?

The past perfect isn't correct in that context. You could use that tense in a sentence like this: I had been reading for an hour when the phone rang. (The reading was going on when the phone rang.)

When a specific time (the year 2005) in the past is mentioned and the activity no longer continues, use the past tense: In 2005 I spent/stayed/lived one month in London. Stayed is good especially if you stayed at a hotel and knew you were leaving London in a month. Lived could be used if you were planning to live in London for a fairly long time but for some reason your plans changed and you had to leave in a month.

CB

Petra Dolores · Answer

wonderful. Thanks.

Anonymous · Answer

i had been waiting for 2 hours last week. is this sentence right???

Have been waiting/had been waiting

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