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English grammar

Telling a longer story: the four past tenses together

B2 · Upper intermediate Verbs and time Questions 10

The rule

A B2 account uses four past tenses at once, and each one does a different job. The past simple carries the events in the order they happened. The past continuous sets the scene around them. The past perfect reaches back to something that was already finished before those events. The past perfect continuous says how long something had been going on before them. We had been driving for three hours when the engine, which had already overheated once, finally stopped while it was raining. Nothing in that sentence is decoration: take any tense out and the order of events becomes guesswork.

Pattern

past perfect (before) · past perfect continuous (how long before) · past continuous (around) · past simple (the events)

Examples

  1. We had been waiting for an hour when they finally called our name.

  2. She was reading the letter again when she noticed what it had not said.

  3. By the time the engineer arrived, the water had reached the second step.

  4. He had been complaining about the noise for months before he wrote to us.

Common mistakes

  • Wrong: When I arrived, the meeting already started.

    Right: When I arrived, the meeting had already started.

    The earlier of two past events takes the past perfect.

  • Wrong: We were driving for three hours when it broke down.

    Right: We had been driving for three hours when it broke down.

    A duration BEFORE a past event takes the past perfect continuous, not the past continuous.

  • Wrong: I had gone to the shop and had bought the milk and had come home.

    Right: I went to the shop, bought the milk and came home.

    Events in the order they happened take the past simple; the past perfect is only for stepping back.

Practice questions

Try each one yourself first, then open “Show answer” for the solution and the reason.

  1. 1Choose the correct sentence.

    1. By the time we get there, the shop had closed.
    2. By the time we got there, the shop closed.
    3. By the time we had got there, the shop closed.
    4. By the time we got there, the shop had closed.
    Show answer

    Answer: D By the time we got there, the shop had closed.

    The closing happened first, so it takes the past perfect.

  2. 2Choose the correct sentence.

    1. She has been working there for ten years when the factory shut.
    2. She was working there for ten years when the factory shut.
    3. She had been working there for ten years when the factory shut.
    4. She worked there for ten years when the factory had shut.
    Show answer

    Answer: C She had been working there for ten years when the factory shut.

    Ten years BEFORE a past event is the past perfect continuous.

  3. 3Choose the correct sentence.

    1. I was reading when the lights went out.
    2. I had read when the lights went out.
    3. I read when the lights were going out.
    4. I have been reading when the lights went out.
    Show answer

    Answer: A I was reading when the lights went out.

    The reading was going on around the single event.

  4. 4Fill in the gap.

    They _____ the road before the snow started, so we got through.

    1. had cleared
    2. were clearing
    3. have cleared
    4. cleared
    Show answer

    Answer: A They had cleared the road before the snow started, so we got through.

    The clearing finished before the snow, so it steps back into the past perfect.

  5. 5Fill in the gap.

    She _____ for the bus when she realised she had left her purse at home.

    1. was waiting
    2. waited
    3. has waited
    4. had waited
    Show answer

    Answer: A She was waiting for the bus when she realised she had left her purse at home.

    The waiting is the background around the moment of realising.

  6. 6Fill in the gap.

    We _____ about the change until the letter arrived in June.

    1. had not heard
    2. have not heard
    3. did not hearing
    4. were not hearing
    Show answer

    Answer: A We had not heard about the change until the letter arrived in June.

    Not knowing up to a point in the past is the past perfect.

  7. 7Fill in the gap.

    The engine _____ strangely for weeks before it finally failed.

    1. has been sounding
    2. had been sounding
    3. had sounded
    4. was sounding
    Show answer

    Answer: B The engine had been sounding strangely for weeks before it finally failed.

    A duration leading up to a past event: past perfect continuous.

  8. 8Fill in the gap.

    While the inspector _____ the notes, nobody in the room spoke.

    1. had read
    2. read
    3. was reading
    4. has read
    Show answer

    Answer: C While the inspector was reading the notes, nobody in the room spoke.

    After while the longer background action takes the continuous.

  9. 9This sentence is wrong. Choose the fix.

    Which sentence is wrong?

    1. By the time she called, I had already left.
    2. By the time she called, I already left.
    3. She called after I had left.
    4. I had left before she called.
    Show answer

    Answer: B By the time she called, I already left.

    The earlier event needs the past perfect, not the past simple.

  10. 10This sentence is wrong. Choose the fix.

    Which sentence is wrong?

    1. We had been living there for two years when the lease ended.
    2. We had been living there since 2019 and we still live there.
    3. We have been living there since 2019.
    4. We lived there for two years.
    Show answer

    Answer: B We had been living there since 2019 and we still live there.

    The past perfect continuous cannot run up to NOW; that is the present perfect continuous.

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