Past perfect tense and Past continuous

[farhankhan2007]

Past perfect tense and Past continious


Can we use Past Perfect tense and Past continous in the same sentence.
Ex. When I had talked to/with him, I was telling him....

 

[GoesStation]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

You couldn't begin a sentence that way. Here's a somewhat awkward sentence combining those two tenses: I had explained it to him before, but as usual, he wasn't listening. (I'm not thinking of you here!)

Note the correct spelling of continuous.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

Yes, but you chose a difficult example. The phrase "When I had talked with him" is grammatical, but it doesn't make as much sense as "When I talked with him." That makes it hard to figure out how "I was telling him" fits.

More examples:

- After I had talked with him, I remembered that I should have been telling him about the bank job I was planning.

- After I had talked with him, I ran into Speedo, who was telling everyone in town about our plan.

- I was telling the rest of the gang about the bank job, but decided against it once I had talked with him.

But I must say, simple past tense would probably serve just as well in those.

 

[Rover_KE]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

farhankhan, note that the names of tenses should not be capitalised.

 

[farhankhan2007]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

Yes, but you chose a difficult example. The phrase "When I had talked with him" is grammatical, but it doesn't make as much sense as "When I talked with him." That makes it hard to figure out how "I was telling him" fits.

More examples:

- After I had talked with him, I remembered that I should have been telling him about the bank job I was planning.

- After I had talked with him, I ran into Speedo, who was telling everyone in town about our plan.

- I was telling the rest of the gang about the bank job, but decided against it once I had talked with him.

But I must say, simple past tense would probably serve just as well in those.

Hello Charlie,
Thanks for the inputs. I just want to understand one thing here in the sentence "- I was telling the rest of the gang about the bank job, but decided against it once I had talked with him".
Which action happened first?

 

[farhankhan2007]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

Sure, thanks

 

[GoesStation]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

... I just want to understand one thing here in the sentence "- I was telling the rest of the gang about the bank job, but decided against it once I had talked with him".
Which action happened first?

I started to answer your question and found that I couldn't. I think Charlie meant to write something like this for his example: I was planning to tell the rest of the gang about the bank job, but decided against it once I had talked with him. Can you tell in what order the events occur in my version of the sentence?

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

Please note that "input" is not normally pluralized. (Compare it to "feedback".)

 

[Tarheel]

Re: Past perfect tense and Past continious

You could also say:

I was going to tell the rest of the gang....