Past perfect vs past perfect continous

Question

Hello1# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning.He had worked late the night before.2# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. he had been working late the night before.Are both correct in formal usage? How does the meaning change? Any recommendations on the usage?Thank you, Sirs.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Since it is this morning, there is no call for past perfect for the night before.

1# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late the night before.
2# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. he was working late the night before.

Anonymous · Answer

Mister MicawberSince it is this morning, there is no call for past perfect for the night before.1# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late the night before.2# Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. he was working late the night before.

would there be a difference between 'last night' and 'the night before' in this case?

Blue Jay · Answer

When talking about him oversleeping this morning we would usually use last night. If we were talking about a previous morning we would use the night before. However, if you say Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late the night before we will still know what you mean. You can't do it the other way round though. Joseph found it difficult to wake up early last Thursday. He worked late last night doesn't work the same way.

Anonymous · Answer

Blue JayWhen talking about him oversleeping this morning we would usually use last night. If we were talking about a previous morning we would use the night before. However, if you say Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late the night before we will still know what you mean. You can't do it the other way round though. Joseph found it difficult to wake up early last Thursday. He worked late last night doesn't work the same way.

As I got from your post, 'last night' and 'the night before' can be used one instead another with the simple past without causing any semantic change.
Would the original sentences be used in natural English? And if they have a chance of being heard, would both 'last night' and 'the night before' go with the past perfect?

P.S: I didn't know that past perfect could be used with 'last night, year, etc.' until I happened to spot this usage on the Net. Is this usage correct?

Blue Jay · Answer

The point I was making was that we do not usually use last night and the night before interchangeably. We use last night for the night before today, and the night before for the night before any specific previous day. If you used the night before to mean last night in a sentence where you were discussing events leading up to today, as you did in your original sentences, we would nevertheless understand what you meant. If you said last night to mean something like the night before last Wednesday we would be confused.

AnonymousWould the original sentences be used in natural English?

Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late last night.

Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He was working late last night.

Both are natural ways to say it.
Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He worked late the night before.

Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He was working late the night before.

Both make sense but are not the usual way to say it, because we would say last night here.
Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He had worked late last night.
Joseph found it difficult to wake up early this morning. He had been working late last night.
Understandable, but not natural. Past perfect is used to make it clear which event occurred before another. Here we already know that last night occurred before this morning, so it is unnecessary to use past perfect. It would be appropriate to use past perfect if we were talking about a day some time in the past.
Joseph found it difficult to wake up early that morning. He had worked late the night before.

AnonymousI didn't know that past perfect could be used with 'last night, year, etc.' until I happened to spot this usage on the Net. Is this usage correct?

This would really depend on the context.

Anonymous · Answer

Blue JayAnonymousI didn't know that past perfect could be used with 'last night, year, etc.' until I happened to spot this usage on the Net. Is this usage correct?This would really depend on the context.

This would really depend on the context.

Wow! great explanation.

Could you provide natural sentences where 'last night, week, yesterday, etc.' could be used with past perfect?

Mister Micawber · Answer

I hadn't eaten last night when my wife brought home the pizza.

Perfect Stranger · Answer

Mister MicawberI hadn't eaten last night when my wife brought home the pizza.

If I'm not mistaken, the pizza was brought by her on the same night... Would it be OK to use past simple in both clauses?

Blue Jay · Answer

Perfect StrangerWould it be OK to use past simple in both clauses?

No, not without re-writing the sentence and possibly changing the sense. The point here is that two things happened (I did not eat/my wife brought home pizza), and the use of past perfect emphasizes the relationship: first I was in a state of not having eaten, then my wife brought home pizza (and presumably I did eat).
If you said I did not eat last night when my wife brought home the pizza it would suggest that you refused to eat the pizza, or that you ate at some other time last night.
If you said I did not eat last night until my wife brought home the pizza it would be similar in meaning to I hadn't eaten last night when my wife brought home the pizza, but it would suggest that you were waiting for her to arrive with the pizza; while the use of past perfect would suggest that it happened to work out well that you had not already eaten when she came home with pizza.

Past perfect vs past perfect continous

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions