Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous

Past Perfect Simple (Subject + had + v₃ + object) or Past Simple (Subject + v₂ + object)

• We use the past perfect simple to describe events or situations which happened before another event or situation in the past which we describe using the past simple.
  • On 1 May, Aron was still alive, but he’d started losing energy. (= He started losing energy before 1 May.)
  • On 1 May, Aron was still alive, but he started losing energy. (=He stated losing energy on 1 May.)
• We often use the adverbs before, just, already, yet, not yet, ever, never, for and since with the past perfect.
  • John thought Jenny was amazing – he’d never met anyone like her before.
• We use the past perfect, not the past simple, when we say It was the first / second / third / etc. time … .
  • I was scared because it was the first time I had tried to climb a mountain.
• If the sequence of events is clear because of the context or a time expression, we can choose either the past perfect or the past simple to refer to the earlier event.
  • She cleaned the rooms after the guests left the house.
  • OR, She cleaned the rooms after the guest had left the house.
• When we use time expressions like when, as soon as, after, until and by the time, we sometimes use the past perfect instead of the past simple to emphasize the idea of waiting for something to happen. Both versions are correct.
  • When she arrived, we started the meal. (= First she arrived, then we started.)
  • When she had arrived, we started the meal. (= We waited for her to arrive and then we started.)

Past Perfect Simple (Subject + had + v₃ + object) or Past Perfect Continuous (Subject + had + been + v₄ + object)

• We can often use either the past perfect simple or the past perfect continuous to refer to past events or situations which happened before another time in the past, with little or no difference in meaning.
  • Jill had done / had been doing a lot of exercise in the last few weeks, so she was very fit.
• We usually use the past perfect continuous to describe an activity that was interrupted or followed by another event in the past.
  • She had been watching television when he reached home.
  • They’d been walking in the area and were now on their way home.  
• We usually use the past perfect simple, not the past perfect continuous, to emphasize that an action was completed before another time in the past.
  • He had nothing left to eat or drink – he’d just drunk the last drop of water.
• We use the past perfect simple, not the past perfect continuous, to refer to the number of times something happened before another time in the past.
  • By the time she died she’d written more than 50 books.
• We us the past perfect simple, not the past perfect continuous, with verbs that describe unchanging states, e.g., like, hate, know, have.
  • Atul had always known the importance of telling people where he was going. NOT … had always been knowing …
• We sometimes use the past perfect simple or the past perfect continuous instead of the past simple or past continuous with verbs like hope, mean, plan, think about (+ -ing) and want to refer to things we intended to do but didn’t.
  • I’d meant / ’d been meaning to phone you but in the end I forgot.

Past Perfect Continuous (Subject + had + been + v₄ + object) or Past Continuous (Subject + was/were + v₄ + object)

• To describe an activity that was interrupted, we can use either the past continuous or the past perfect continuous. But we don’t use the past continuous to say how long the interrupted activity lasted.
  • He’d been sleeping when the fire started. OR He was sleeping when the fire started.
  • He’d been sleeping for about an hour when the fire started. NOT He was sleeping for about an hour …

Source: Active Grammar, Level 3, Mark Lloyd and Jeremy Day, CUP, 2011 (With Ramrowriter’s adaptation where necessary)