Past perfect simple and past perfect continuous/progressive

Question

your website is very useful for people learning English I appreciate for your efforts. Could you please answer my questions?
1. A) I jumped up because he had advised me to do so (is this correct usage of past perfect simple?)
1. B) I jumped up because he advised me to do so (I used 2 simple past actions here can I do that? If I can is 1B any different from the 1A)
2. My business was bad because I had no good knowledge (is this right usage of past perfect simple) can I also say "my business was bad because I didn't have good knowledge" again I used two simple past actions.
3.A) Before coming to India I had been in Australia for 2 years (is it compulsory to mention 2yrs or 2weeks in past perfect continuous and can I use "before coming" instead of simple past "I came to")
3.B) I had been In Australia for 2 years before I came to India. Or can I write like this "Before I came to India I had been in Australia for 2 years" (in this statement I wrote simple past first).
3. C) I had been in Australia for 2 years when I came to India (do 3B&3C convey same meaning).
4. I had been working before my trip or I had been working before I went to trip (which of these two is correct for past perfect continuous)
5.She had been working before the summer begins (is it compulsory to use simple past before past perfect simple and past perfect continues)
Thank you very much for helping people through teaching English.
Please clear my doubts.
Kindest regards,
Rakesh Kakarala.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

your website is very useful for people learning English I appreciate for your efforts. Could you please answer my questions?
1. A) I jumped up because he had advised me to do so (is this correct usage of past perfect simple?)
1. B) I jumped up because he advised me to do so (I used 2 simple past actions here can I do that? If I can is 1B any different from the 1A)
2. My business was bad because I had no good knowledge (is this right usage of past perfect simple) can I also say "my business was bad because I didn't have good knowledge" again I used two simple past actions.
3.A) Before coming to India I had been in Australia for 2 years (is it compulsory to mention 2yrs or 2weeks in past perfect continuous and can I use "before coming" instead of simple past "I came to")
3.B) I had been In Australia for 2 years before I came to India. Or can I write like this "Before I came to India I had been in Australia for 2 years" (in this statement I wrote simple past first).
3. C) I had been in Australia for 2 years when I came to India (do 3B&3C convey same meaning).

4. I had been working before my trip or I had been working before I went on the trip (which of these two is correct for past perfect continuous)
5.She had been working before the summer begins (is it compulsory to use simple past before past perfect simple and past perfect continues)
Thank you very much for helping people through teaching English.
Please clear my doubts.
Kindest regards,
Rakesh Kakarala.

1A. Yes. Two actions, one completed before the other one, could be expressed in the past perfect and past simple (the previous action in the past perfect).

1B. Yes, you can. Here, you don't emphasize the completion one action before another.

2. There is no past perfect in the 2. If you want to use this tense, it should be expressed with the 'had had' form here. You can use both the past perfect and the simple past. Again, the emphasis of completion requires the past-perfect usage, otherwise two simple past tenses will suffice.

3A. There is no past perfect continuous in the 3A. It's the past perfect form here, 'had been'. Yes, you can use 'before coming' (here: 'before' is a preposition, as opposed to the 'before I came to' where 'before' is a conjunction); you can leave out the prepositional phrase 'for two years/weeks' from the sentence, then, you state the place where you were (without saying how long you had been there).

3B. Both sentences are correct.

3C. 'when' (conjunction) = at or during the time of the action (here: of coming to India) ; 'before' (conjunction) = earlier than the time when.

4. Both are correct: 'before my trip' (here: 'before' is a preposition); 'before I went on the trip' (here: 'before' is a conjunction).

5. The sentence in the 5. is grammatically flawed. You cannot use the past perfect continuous and simple present tense like that; it should be the simple past form 'began' here.

Past perfect simple and past perfect continuous/progressive

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