Advanced Tense Usage: The Past Perfect, The Past Continuous, and The Present Perfect Progressive

The Past Perfect tense is used to describe an action that was completed before another action in the past. It is formed using the auxiliary verb “had” + the past participle of the main verb. For example: “I had finished my homework before I watched TV.”

The Past Continuous tense is used to describe an action that was in progress in the past at a specific time. It is formed using the auxiliary verb “was/were” + the present participle of the main verb. For example: “I was studying when you called.”

The Present Perfect Progressive tense is used to describe an action that started in the past and is still continuing in the present. It is formed using the auxiliary verb “have/has” + been + the present participle of the main verb. For example: “I have been studying for the exam for three hours.”

It’s important to note that all three tenses are used to talk about past events. The main difference is how they describe the timing of the events in relation to one another.