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Anonymous Posted 20 years ago
Grammar

past perfect continuous vs simple past

Hello!

Could anyone tell me the difference between these sentences:

I had been finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so I didn't hear her come in.

I was finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so...

Many thanks!

ouwebok
  

Top answer

Hi, Could anyone tell me the difference between these sentences: I had been finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so I didn't hear her come in. I was finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so... Simply put, the past perfect indicates 'one action before another past action, with the first action having some imprtance for the second'.

— Clive

  • Hi, Could anyone tell me the difference between these sentences: I had been finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so I didn't hear her come in.
  • I was finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so...
  • Simply put, the past perfect indicates 'one action before another past action, with the first action having some imprtance for the second'.
  • Oten, we can use a simple past tense and still have that meaning pretty clear, as in this case.
  • However, the PP here indicates that after Sue arrived, I didn't continue the finshing.
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4 Answers
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Hi,

Could anyone tell me the difference between these sentences:

I had been finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so I didn't hear her come in.

I was finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so...

Simply put, the past perfect indi
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0 in the first sentence you are not hearing sue because of you not in the garden 02br
00in the second sentence you are not hearing sue because of you are in the garden 02br
00he he he 0-
0
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1blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10 in the first sentence you are not hearing sue because of you not in the garden 12br
12br
10in the second sentence you are not hearing sue because of you are in the garden 12br
12br
10he he he 12br
12br
12blockquote
10Anon, are you genuinely
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0 01sup00<<>>> had been finishing some work in the garden when Sue arrived, so I didn't hear her come in.02sup02br
02br
00I 00w00ould never use past perfect progressive with the verb "finish" in a sentence. 02br
00You may say " I was trying to finish up...when ...", 02br
00I was about to finish my gardening
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