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English 1b3 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Past perfect continuous in this sentence
He controls Andrew's gold imports, and had been running the business for almost ten years.
1. Why is the past continuous perfect used here (and not the past simple or past continuous)?
2. Could the alternatives in brackets be used with the same meaning or different meaning?
3. Is there a rule I can refer to that explains why the past perfect (continuous) is used here instead of the past simple?
Thank you, all.
1. Why is the past continuous perfect used here (and not the past simple or past continuous)?
2. Could the alternatives in brackets be used with the same meaning or different meaning?
3. Is there a rule I can refer to that explains why the past perfect (continuous) is used here instead of the past simple?
Thank you, all.
Top answer
1-- The writer wished to emphasize that past duration of time, energy and knowledge. 2-- Past simple and continuous do not work; they intimate that he is no longer running it. 3-- Probably not.
- 1-- The writer wished to emphasize that past duration of time, energy and knowledge.
- 2-- Past simple and continuous do not work; they intimate that he is no longer running it.
- 3-- Probably not.
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2 Answers
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1-- The writer wished to emphasize that past duration of time, energy and knowledge.
2-- Past simple and continuous do not work; they intimate that he is no longer running it.
3-- Probably not.
2-- Past simple and continuous do not work; they intimate that he is no longer running it.
3-- Probably not.
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Great observation! You are absolutely correct in your thought about the tenses matching.
He controls (present simple) Andrew's Gold Imports and has been running (present perfect continuous) the business for almost ten years.
He controlled (past simple) Andrew's Gold Imports and had run (past perfect) the business for almost ten years.
He
He controls (present simple) Andrew's Gold Imports and has been running (present perfect continuous) the business for almost ten years.
He controlled (past simple) Andrew's Gold Imports and had run (past perfect) the business for almost ten years.
He
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