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Ask for help > past perfect and past perfect continuous
past perfect and past perfect continuous
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Ruwayda37
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past perfect and past perfect continuous
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Hello follow teachers,
I was wondering if you could help me understand the difference in meaning between the two sentences:
1. What were you doing when you hurt your finger?
2. What had you been doing when you hurt your finger?
I also need to understand when to say "I �d met him before" and "I �ve met him before. "
Thanks a lot. |
29 Apr 2014
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kons
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Hi, �I �d met him before I came to school �(for example) means that the action of meeting him happened before coming to school, �while I �ve met him � means that you met the person some time before now, but the exact time is either not mentioned or not known. Kons |
29 Apr 2014
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kons
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Concerning the difference between these questions: 1. �What were you doing when you hurt your finger? � means that the action of hurting your finger happened in the middle of the action of doing something. That is to say, one action was continous in the past and another one happened. 2. �What had you been doing when you hurt your finger? � means that the action of doing something was continous and happened before you hurt your fingers, but I think the word �when � should be replaced by �before �. I hope I �m to the point. Kons
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29 Apr 2014
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Ruwayda37
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Thank you very much for this answer. I hope what I got is right:The past continuous is interrupted by a past simple action and thus not finished by the time it is interrupted but the past perfect continuous action lasted for some time but had finished by the time it was interrupted by the past simple action. Am I right? |
29 Apr 2014
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kons
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yes, "but the past perfect continuous action lasted for some time but had finished before the 2nd action started." kons |
29 Apr 2014
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