[Grammar] Using the past simple tense to express the duration of some action in the past.

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Weaver67

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Hello.

I wonder if there is any point to use either the past perfect continuous tense or the past perfect tense instead of the past simple tense in such a context as follows:

"I've been to Argentina once and I lived there for six years".

As far as I know, it's considered to be correct to use the past simple tense to show a duration which starts and stops in the past.

On the other hand, I've heard another opinion:

"I've been to Argentina once and I had been living (or 'had lived') there for six years".

As it's been explained, the reason of using either of the perfect tenses is that there's an implicit time in the past when someone completed his/her residence in the country, and therefore, it seems to be reasonable. However, I'm not certain... Perhaps it's better to add something like "...before I left the country" if there's a strong desire to use the perfect tenses.

Could anyone make it clear?

Thank you in advance.
 
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billmcd

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Hello.

I wonder if there is any point to use either the past perfect continuous tense or the past perfect tense instead of the past simple tense in such a context as follows:

"I've been to Argentina once and I lived there for six years".

As far as I know, it's considered to be correct to use the past simple tense to show a duration which starts and stops in the past.

On the other hand, I've heard another opinion:

"I've been to Argentina once and I had been living (or 'had lived') there for six years".

As it's been explained, the reason of using either of the perfect tenses is that there's an implicit time in the past when someone completed s/he residence in the country, and therefore, it seems to be reasonable. However, I'm not certain... Perhaps it's better to add something like "...before I left the country" if there's a strong desire to use the perfect tenses. I agree. It is expected to hear/read a "when", "before", "by the time" clause with past perfect continuous. And in your example, "I've been to Argentina once" is separate and distinct and not really relevant in terms of meaning to the second clause.
Could anyone make it clear?

Thank you in advance.

b.
 
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