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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Past perfect and past simple

Hi.thank you for your good site at first.I'm learning english and I have a problem.I want to know when we use past perfect for example we say,"I had played tennis when he arrived", why can't we say I was playing tennis when he arrived?
  

Top answer

I had played tennis when he arrived", why can't we say I was playing tennis when he arrived? I HAD PLAYED TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED - PAST PERFECT TENSE I WAS PLAYING TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED (PAST CONTINUES TENSE) (PAST INDEFINITE)

— Camsians

  • I had played tennis when he arrived", why can't we say I was playing tennis when he arrived?
  • I HAD PLAYED TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED - PAST PERFECT TENSE I WAS PLAYING TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED (PAST CONTINUES TENSE) (PAST INDEFINITE)
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4 Answers
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I had played tennis when he arrived", why can't we say I was playing tennis when he arrived?

I HAD PLAYED TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED - PAST PERFECT TENSE
I WAS PLAYING TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED
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The past perfect is often used with another event in the past. It shows an even earlier action and should have an adverb of time duration:

I had played tennis for two hours before he arrived. (Action 1: play tennis for two hours; action 2: He arrived
We had lived for several years in London, before we moved to Paris. (Action 1: live in London ; action 2: moved t
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camsiansI HAD PLAYED TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED - PAST PERFECT TENSE
No. There are two clauses here. The first is past perfect; the second is simple past. It is not correct usage of these two tenses together.
camsiansI WAS PLAYING TENNIS WHEN HE ARRIVED(PAST CONTINUES TENSE) (PAST INDEFINITE)
No."Past continues" is not a valid
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