We have a long continuous list of tenses that can express facts, happenings, or states, in brief, actions in the past. Here, we continue…
The past perfect (had + past participle of the verb)
The past perfect is used to:
- Talk about something that happened before another action in the past
Eg: We had closed the door before he came.
The present perfect progressive. (have+been+ing form of the verb)
Formed by the combination or insertion of both auxiliaries to have (simple present) and to be (past participle) + the ing form of the verb (have+been+ing form of the verb), the present perfect progressive is used to:
- Talk about an activity that has finished, but whose results are still visible now
Eg: My body is dusty because I have been working on the farm.
The past perfect progressive. (had+been+ing form of the verb)
The past perfect progressive is used to:
- Talk about an activity that had a result in the past.
Eg: My body was dusty because I had been working on the farm.
- Talk about an activity that started at a time further back in the time than something else, by using « since » or « for »
Eg: She had been traveling around the world since she left the house.
Note: « Since » can also be used with many other past tenses.
Source: Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary.
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