please explain the difference.

Question

A. I was finishing some work in the garden and didn't see Sue come home. Vs. I had been finishing some work in the garden and hadn't see Sue come home.

Please explain the difference. I am really confused. The first one could mean Sue came home while I was finishing some work in the garden. What about the second one???

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

tenjingA. I was finishing some work in the garden and didn't see Sue come home. Vs. I had been finishing some work in the garden and hadn't seen Sue come home.

The reference point in time is different.

was finishing ... didn't see takes the present moment as the reference point from which past time is measured.
had been finishing ... hadn't seen takes a moment in the past (not mentioned in your sentence) as the reference point from which past time is measured.

So had been ... implies "before something else that happened". Whatever happened before would have been mentioned earlier in your story.

CJ

Tenjing · Answer

Could you please explain it briefly with some contexts? ??

CalifJim · Answer

tenjing Could you please explain it briefly with some contexts? ??

This has already been done in several threads on this forum. Use the search box to find out more about the past perfect tense. Here are a few posts for you to get started with.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

1. The first sentence might refer to the following scenario: The speaker worked in the garden from 1 PM to 3 PM. Sue came home at 2 PM. The speaker did not see her when she came home. At 3:10 PM, having finished his work in the garden, the speaker enters the house and sees Sue. He is surprised to see her, as he did not see her when she came home.

Later, in relating this incident, the speaker might say: "I was finishing (the tense is past continuous, depicting continuous action in the past) some work in the garden (from 1 PM to 3 PM) and didn't see (the tense is past, depicting an action in the past) Sue (when she came home at 2 PM) come home."

2. The second sentence refers to some specific incident in past time, for example: The speaker worked in the garden from 1 PM to 3 PM. Sue came home at 2 PM, without being seen by the speaker. At 3 PM Sue comes out of the home with a gun and shoots the speaker in the arm, slightly wounding him.

Thus, all action refers to this 3 PM incident. Later, in relating this incident, the speaker might say: "I had been finishing (the tense is past perfect continuous, depicting continuous action in the past completed at some point in the past, here that point is 3 PM) some work in the garden (from 1 PM to 3 PM) and hadn't seen (the tense is past perfect, depicting action in the past completed at some point in the past, here, that point, as a reference for everything being related, is 3 PM) Sue (when she came home at 2 PM) come home (so I was completely surprised when she came out of the house at 3 PM and shot me)."

Grammarfreak · Answer

Along with CJ 's comments, allow me to toss in my two cents.

tenjingI was finishing some work in the garden and didn't see Sue come home. Vs. I had been finishing some work in the garden and hadn't see Sue come home.

Based on this simple sentence, a simple past progressive is clear and adequate enough. There is no need for past perfect progressive. Another point to pay attention to: Even when there were two past events taken place in the past, if there is a conjunction ( after, before, while, etc..) in the context, and the context is semantically clear, past perfect construction is not necessary. i.e. I knew ( had knownis not necessary) Mary before she came to work in our company.

please explain the difference.

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