[Grammar] past simple or past perfect continuous ?????

[azkad]

Hi there,

Which sentence is correct? Please help me.

Yesterday I studied in the library for three hours.
Yesterday I had been studying in the library for three hours.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi there,

Which sentence is correct? Please help me.

Yesterday I studied in the library for three hours.
Yesterday I had been studying in the library for three hours.

If you are going to finish your sentence after the word "hours" then only your first one is correct.

The second could be used with some punctuation and some further information:

Yesterday, I had been studying in the library for three hours, when my friend phoned me and suggested we go to the cinema.

 

[SoothingDave]

"NOT going to finish," you mean.

 

[Mannkavi]

If you are going to finish your sentence after the word "hours" then only your first one is correct.

The second could be used with some punctuation and some further information:

Yesterday, I had been studying in the library for three hours, when my friend phoned me and suggested we go to the cinema.

Yesterday, I was studying in the library(past continuous tense) for three hours, when my friend phoned me and suggested we go to the cinema.

is this sentence incorrect? (I used past continuous tense instead of past perfect continuous)

 

[5jj]

"NOT going to finish," you mean.

I think not.

 

[SoothingDave]

I guess it depends on if you read "finish" like "stop there" or "finish" like "continue the sentence with some more words."

I was thinking "if you're not going to finish the second sentence by adding more words."

Strange language.

 

[emsr2d2]

I guess it depends on if you read "finish" like "stop there" or "finish" like "continue the sentence with some more words."

I was thinking "if you're not going to finish the second sentence by adding more words."

Strange language.

Perhaps I should have said "If you're going to finish your sentence at/with/on the word "hours"." Would that have been clearer?

To begin with, I couldn't see how you could have read it any other way than how I meant it, but your explanation above is entirely clear and I hadn't considered the possibility.

 

[SoothingDave]

Yes, that would have been clearer.