Tenses

Question

I am a bit confused about the usage of Past Perfect tense or Past Perfect Continuous. I am actually not very proficient in tenses.

I understand that the Past Perfect tense is use to talk aboiut completed action before something in the past:

"You had studied Japanese before you moved to Japan."

My question is, which one of the below sentences is correct?

"I have worked as an engineer 5 years ago" (but I do not work as an engineer anymore."

or

""I had worked as an engineer 5 years ago" ?

in the above examples there are no "before something in the past".

Another example:

"I have been working as an engineer 5 years ago." (I am not an engineer now).

or

"I had been working as an engineer 5 years ago."

Thanks.

Hrsanei · Accepted Answer

Hi.

"My question is, which one of the below sentences is correct?"

I have worked as an engineer 5 years ago" (but I do not work as an engineer anymore."or""I had worked as an engineer 5 years ago" ?in the above examples there are no "before something in the past".Another example:"I have been working as an engineer 5 years ago." (I am not an engineer now).or"I had been working as an engineer 5 years ago." Thanks.

All of your examples are incorrect. You should use past simple if you are referring to a definite time in the past. Therefore, you sentence should read,
I worked as an engineer five years ago.
If you want to highlight the fact that you are not working as an engineer, you can use the "used to" structure as follows;
I used to work as an engineer five years ago.

Regards
Hamid

GPY · Answer

nokia"I had been working as an engineer 5 years ago."

Note also that "ago" is best reserved for the meaning "relative to now". To make the event relative to something that is itself in the past, put the sentences in the past perfect and change "ago" to "earlier":

I had worked as an engineer 5 years earlier.
I had been working as an engineer 5 years earlier.

(slightly different nuance between the two)

Nokia · Answer

Thanks Hamid.

How about:

"I have more than five years of work experience in the ABC industry."
(I no longer work in the ABC industry but I still have five years of experience. Should I use past or present...?)

"I have been in charge of training co-workers... (no indication of time)"
(I am no longer in charge of that)

So I should use simple past or "used to" instead of "have/had been"? I want to highlight the fact that I have that experience but I do not want to highlight that I am not in charge of that anymore. Does that make a difference?

Thank you very much.

Hrsanei · Answer

nokiaThanks Hamid. You are welcome.

How about:"I have more than five years of work experience in the ABC industry."(I no longer work in the ABC industry but I still have five years of experience. Should I use past or present...?)" It is correct.

I have been in charge of training co-workers... (no indication of time)"(I am no longer in charge of that)So I should use simple past or "used to" instead of "have/had been"? Use of present perfect indicates that you are still in charge, so it is not the right tense to impart your intended meaning. You can use past perfect to refer to past, but there should be a completion time for that, you can say

I had been in charge of training co-worker before leaving my job.

I want to highlight the fact that I have that experience but I do not want to highlight that I am not in charge of that anymore. Does that make a difference?Thank you very much. You can say;

I worked in ABC industry for five years during which I was in charge of training my co-workers.

Hamid

GPY · Answer

nokia"I have been in charge of training co-workers... (no indication of time)"(I am no longer in charge of that)

Present perfect can also be used in an "experiential" sense, meaning that you have done something at least once at any time in your life. I think it's possible that "I have been in charge of training co-workers" could be read that way. I think there are clearer ways to say that though, if that's what you mean.

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