Past is frequently used in historical analyses and narratives. It is necessary to exploit other Aspects of Past Tense so that more complex processes can be construed. Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous are challenging for English learners because they are quite similar in terms of form and meaning. Sometimes they are interchangeable, as in ‘Sarah had lived / had been living in Halifax for 3 years before she moved to Farnworth.’ However, they are indeed two different Aspects of Tense and convey different meaning. In this blogpost I am going to explain the differences between Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous in terms of their form, meaning, and pronunciations.
What is the aspect of Perfect?
Perfect is an aspect of relating a completed process to another subsequent process. It features the use of the verb ‘have’ plus the Past Participle. Look at the following examples:
1.I have finished the assignment (Present Perfect)
2.I had finished the project by 2pm yesterday. (Past Perfect)
3. I will have finished the project by 2pm tomorrow. (Future Perfect)
What is the aspect of Perfect Continuous?
Perfect Continuous, as its name can tell, is a combination of two aspects – the Perfect and the Continuous. It talks about a temporary, ongoing process which progresses for a certain period and could be related to a subsequent point of time either in the past, the present, or the future. It features the use of ‘have’ as a Auxiliary Verb, ‘been’ to convey the Perfect Aspect, and Present Participle (-ing word) to convey the Continuous Aspect. Look at the following examples:
- I have been doing my writing for 2 hours. (Present Perfect Continuous)
- I had been doing my writing for 2 hours before the teacher said ‘time’s up’. (Past Perfect Continuous)
- I will have been doing my writing for 2 hours by 2 pm tomorrow. (Future Perfect Continuous)
How do we form Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous
To form Past Perfect, we need the auxiliary ‘had’ plus the Past Participle:
- I had finished the assignment. (+)
- I had not finished the assignment. (-)
- Had you finished the assignment? (?)
To form Past Perfect Continuous, we need the auxiliary ‘had been’ plus the Present Participle:
- I had been doing the assignment. (+)
- I had not been doing the assignment. (-)
- Had you been doing the assignment? (?)
How do we use Past Perfect?
We use Past Perfect to talk about processes which were completed before a subsequent past process, or a certain point of time in the past. Look at the following example:
- Jennifer had finished her homework by 2pm yesterday.
- Last week, Peter went to the cinema with Casey after he had finished the assignment.
In example (1), the process of ‘finishing’ happened before a point of time in the past (i.e. 2 pm yesterday), hence the use of Past Perfect.
In example (2), the process of ‘finishing’ happened before another past action of ‘going to the cinema’, thus using Past Perfect.
How do we use Past Perfect Continuous?
We use Past resent Perfect Continuous if we talk about ongoing processes which started in the past and were related to another subsequent past process. Look at the following examples:
- Jess had been crying before she got back her favorite doll from her teacher.
- I had been marking the exam for two hours by 2 pm yesterday.
- Helen had been writing the essay for an hour by the time Mum came back from her bulk shopping.
In example (1), the process of “crying” was going on for a certain time before another subsequent past process of “getting back” happened, thus using Past Perfect Continuous.
In example (2), the process of “marking” lasted for two hours before another subsequent point of time in the past (2 pm yesterday), thus using Past Perfect Continuous to indicate duration of time.
In example (3), the process of “writing” lasted for an hour before another subsequent past action (Mum’s coming back) happened. Therefore, we use the Past Perfect Continuous.
Why do learners confuse Past Perfect with Past Perfect Continuous?
Learners usually confuse Past Perfect with Past Perfect Continuous because they both bear the Past Perfect. In other words, both are related to a subsequent process that happened in the past. The main difference is that Past Perfect emphasizes the completion of processes before another point of past time or past action, whereas Past Perfect Continuous places more emphasis on duration of processes.
Past Perfect Continuous:
Peter had been writing for 2 hours before Dad gave him a call. (Focus on duration)
Past Perfect:
Peter had written 1000 words already before Dad gave him a call. (Focus on completion)
Are there any signal words when using Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous?
Past Perfect is usually used either with a Prepositional Phrase which indicates an idea of preceding a point of time in the past, or with linking devices about time and sequence. Look at the following examples:
- She had finished all the reports by 2 pm last Monday.
- She had finished all the housework by the time Dad finished cooking the dinner.
- She went to the cinema after she had finished the assignment.
- She had finished the assignment before she went to the cinema.
Now let’s move on to Past Perfect Continuous. It has similar signals of time as in Past Perfect, but there is usually an extra Prepositional Phrase indicating the duration of time. Look at the following examples:
- She had been writing the report for 2 hours before Dad finish cooking the dinner.
- She had been learning Spanish since 2021 before she went to Spain last year.
What are some of the common mistakes of Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous?
When using Past Perfect, students may get confused about the form of Past Participle, which carries a meaning of completion. Learners usually have no problem when using the regular form with the -ed suffix (such as talked and shouted); when it comes to using the irregular (such as broken and spoken), learners may make mistakes such as ‘speaked’ and ‘breaked’.
Let’s move on to the meaning. Tense is relevant to Prepositional Phrases, as they help create time circumstances in the sentences. While using Past Perfect, the most common Prepositional Phrase is ‘by the time’ and ‘by + past time phrase’. Learners usually use Past Simple rather than Past Perfect as they do not know that ‘by’ and ‘before’ are alike in meaning.
Now let’s talk about Past Perfect Continuous. Past Perfect Continuous is used to talk about duration of ongoing processes that happened before another subsequent past action. A ‘for-phrase’ is usually used to introduce the idea of duration. The problem is learners tend to overuse the tense by making mistakes like ‘had been seeming’ or ‘had been liking’. It is important to bear in mind that not all verbs can be used with Continuous Tenses. We don’t use Continuous Tenses for verbs expressing possession, feeling and mental states. We call these verbs ‘Stative Verbs’.
Reminder in terms of pronunciation
In term of pronouncing ‘had + past participle’ in Past Perfect, the word stress is placed in the content, i.e. the past participle. ‘Had’ is a function word and we don’t usually use the strong form of ‘had’ (hæd) in tenses; instead we weaken the sound and replace the middle vowel with a schwa. In other words, it is pronounced as /həd/.
The sound of ‘had’ in Past Perfect Continuous is the same as that in Past Perfect. Besides, instead of using the long vowel /i:/ in ‘been’, we tend to use the short vowel /ɪ/. For the -ing sound, we tend to replace the /ŋ/ sound in the end with an /n/ sound for ease of articulation. To sum up, we don’t stress the function words ‘had been’; we only stress the Present Participle with the ‘ing’ sound weakened for easier pronunciation.