Past Tenses: did, was doing, had done, had been doing | English Grammar Lesson | B1-Intermediate

[Music] Hello and welcome, everyone to this  presentation on Past tenses. The reason I've  

chosen this presentation, this topic for you today  is thanks to two questions, very good questions  

that Sajjad has sent us. Sajjad's first question:  What's the difference between 'I was driving when  

you called.' and 'I had had been driving when  you called.' And Sajjad's second question:  

I never hear native speakers use 'had done',  Past Perfect. Do they actually ever use this  

tense? Very good question, Sajjad. And you're not  the only one who has asked me this, I've had both  

questions several times. So, let's hope I can  clarify that for you. In order to get to the  

answers, we need to review the four pass senses:  did, was doing, had done, had been doing. So, for  

those of you who like their names: Past Simple:  did, Past Continuous: was doing, Past Perfect:  

had done, and Past Perfect Continuous: had been  doing. So, usually when I clarify or teach tenses,  

I use timelines. I think they help a a lot in  getting the concept. So, I've created a kind of  

an imaginary timeline for someone called Alex.  This is Alex's timeline, and in this timeline,  

we have four Past time frames: 1990, 2008, and  2009. So, talking about just one single action  

in each of these years, we just use the Past  Simple. I think that's very clear for all of you:  

One action in a very specified, specific time  frame in the past: Past Simple. So, let's see what  

they were: 1990: Alex was born in Belgium in 1990.  2008: End of secondary school. He, Alex finished  

his secondary school in 2008. Then in 2009, two  things happened: he had some driving lessons:  

one action, and he moved to Italy in 2009, so two  actions. But as you can see, we have one action at  

a specific time in the past: Past simple. We don't  need any other tense than that. So, when do we  

need the others? Let's look at the next slide and  focus on 2009. Now, two things happened in 2009,  

kind of simultaneously. One was: he was learning  to drive, and the other one he - excuse me - he  

moved to Belgium. I think Past Continuous is also  pretty clear to most of you. The action, now we  

have two things, the action that was longer,  that was in the background goes into the Past  

Continuous tense: He was learning to drive, and  the shorter action that interrupted the longer one  

is in the Past Simple: He was learning to drive  when he moved to Belgium. so, the lessons were  

interrupted. There's this idea of interruption.  One thing is going on; the other one comes in  

the middle of it. So, there's this idea of  interruption, coming in the middle, but it never  

tells us whether the interrupted action continues  it or not. Maybe it did, maybe it didn't. It's  

not the point. It's just these two things coming  together like that. Okay so, I think that's still  

quite simple: Past Continuous. Let's move on to  Past Perfect. When do we use this? Same context:  

we have ' He moved to Belgium.': the Past Simple  action. Now, certain things had been completed,  

like: He had had 10 lessons, 10 completed lessons.  This is when you need to use the Past Perfect:  

Past Past: Alex had had 10 driving lessons before  he moved to Belgium. It is because those actions  

did not continue anymore. They had all been  completed before the move to Belgium. I think  

so far so good. Usually, the concept is clear. So,  the last one, let's look at it is: Past Perfect  

Continuous, the 'had been doing' tense. When do  we use this? We use this when we mentioned the  

length of time that that action had been going  on. So, remember: He was learning to drive,  

that's the past one: He was learning to drive  when he moved. Now, if we mention the length of  

time he had been learning to drive, we switch the  Past Continuous to the Past Perfect Continuous:  

He had been learning to drive for six months  before or when - you can use either conjunction:  

when or before - he moved to Belgium. Right. So,  just take that in. We've got: something happened,  

something happened and interrupted something  else: Past continuous. Things had been completed  

before something happened, and things had been in  progress for some time before something happened.  

So, you can see that this 'before he moved to  Belgium' is your reference point in the past.  

To make it a bit clearer even from a concept point  of view, I'm going to compare these three tenses:  

Past Continuous, Past Perfect, and Past Perfect  Continuous with their Present equivalent. Okay,  

so if I take you to the next slide...  Remember Past Continuous was 'when he moved';  

that's your reference point: 'when he moved to  Belgium, he was learning to drive.' Something  

was in progress. Compared to Present Continuous:  Now, Alex is learning to sing. The word 'now' I  

have put in brackets because we don't need to keep  saying 'now'. When we use the Present Continuous,  

'now' is implicitly your reference point,  whereas when we use the Past Continuous,  

we have to mention the past reference point  that can be anything. Right. So, I think that's  

hopefully making it clear for you why we need a  reference point in the past whereas we don't need  

one in the present. So Past Continuous. Let's  now compare Past Perfect to Present Perfect:  

Before he moved to Belgium - that's our reference  point in the past - he had had 10 driving lessons.  

It compares very easily, it's the equivalent  of Present Perfect: Until now - 'now' is our  

reference point - he has had 10 singing lessons.  So, the tenses are always parallel. And to finish:  

Past Perfect Continuous. Remember: Before  he moved to Belgium - our reference point  

in the past - he had been learning to drive for  six months. The equivalent or compared to Until  

now - 'now' is our reference point - Alex has  been learning to sing for six months. Okay. So,  

I hope that clarifies a little bit, well to a  great extent actually, I hope it clarifies the  

concept of these tenses for you. So, let's go back  to the questions Sajjad has asked. First question:  

What is the difference between 'I was driving  when you called.' and 'I had been driving when  

you called.'? To be grammatically correct, the  second sentence should not stand alone like that:  

I had been driving when you called. There should  be a length of time. Otherwise Sajjad is right:  

Why use 'I had been driving'? There's no reason,  just: I was driving when you called. But you  

may hear in some cases a native speaker omit the  time, the length of time, and just say something  

like that: I'd been driving when you called.  If you hear this, the idea of 'for some time',  

'for a while' is implicit in what the person has  said. What they really wanted to say but didn't  

say all of it is: I had been driving for a while,  I had been driving for some time, when you called.  

Right, so that's the answer to the first question.  Again, native speakers do this when they naturally  

know that they don't, that's it's implicit in  their message. Can we do that? If you know it's  

implicit, yes. But, my recommendation is not to do  that. Just follow ... When you use, when you use  

the language yourself, you can be more confident  and always clearer if you follow the rules,  

but don't expect all natives to do the same, which  brings us to the next question, which is very much  

about how natives use the language without using  the grammar. And it's the second question. I'll  

remind you what Sajjad asked: I never hear native  speakers use 'had done', the Past Perfect tense.  

Do they actually ever use this tense? My answer  to this question is 'yes' and 'no', depending on  

how language-aware they are. You need to remember  that, for many years now, native English speakers  

do not learn English grammar at school. It is  not taught. They don't learn grammar, syntax;  

they don't learn the language. They usually just  do literature and essays and things like that. So  

they're never taught grammar, tenses. They have  no awareness from their schooling. Later in life,  

they may decide to do it themselves, to learn  themselves, if they become a writer for example,  

and that's why writing standards of native  speakers have dropped. And for example,  

one of the reasons behind software like Grammarly  is to help native speakers improve their writing  

because it's got really bad. So, the conclusion  from this fact is that you cannot expect all  

native speakers to use grammatical structures  correctly. They say and write what they hear,  

what they have grown up hearing from other native  speakers. So, what's the relevance of this piece  

of information to Sajjad's question? I'll try  to explain. Consider what a contracted Past  

Perfect tense sounds like when spoken naturally  by a native speaker. Let me read the sentences  

I've got here: He'd some driving lessons before  he moved. After she'd finished her homework she  

called her friend. As you can hear, in connected  speech, where we always contract the auxiliary,  

the difference between 'he'd had' and 'he had' and  'she'd finished' and 'she finished' is minimal.  

Really you cannot hear it because it's not said.  It's not supposed to be said. In spoken English,  

it's supposed to be contracted. So I'll  say the two again: he'd had - he had,  

she'd finished - she finished. It's completely  imperceptible. So, someone who's learnt the  

language mainly through listening may use Past  Simple instead of Past Perfect. It's just because  

they have only heard Past Simple; they didn't  hear the little 'D' before. So, even when the  

phonetics are different, now they naturally  use two Past Simple tenses, so you will hear:  

He left after he ate. Whereas the correct form  obviously, following what I've just described,  

is: He left after he'd eaten. Right. So, that's  where it comes from. Many of you have said,  

Sajjad brought it to, was the last person to ask  this question: I can't hear the Past Perfect;  

they don't use it! No, those who know about it,  use it. Those who haven't learnt it, of course  

don't use it. This brings us to the question: So,  should we, as non-native speakers, just forget  

about the Past Perfect? Let's do what most native  speakers do. Well, it's up to you because I I have  

a feeling that as the language evolves towards  simplification maybe the Past Simple tense will  

eventually replace both the Present Perfect, I've  done, so like: I've finished, and Past Perfect:  

I'd finished because really phonetically 'I've  finished', I'd finished' and 'I finished' are  

so so similar. That's why you see these Perfect  tenses gradually disappearing. But for the moment,  

it's not the case for every native speaker. So,  these Perfect tenses are still used by many,  

and of course you will see them, hear them  in in formal situations. So, you need to know  

about them, understand them, so that you don't  get confused. But for your own usage, obviously  

as an English teacher, I would say: Try to use  them correctly, but if you're getting confused:  

Oh, what is that? Too many rules! Just don't  stress about them. Really don't! If in doubt, just  

use the Past Simple. Your message is clear. Right,  I think that's the end of the presentation for me.  

I hope it's helped you get a better grasp of the  Past, the four Past tenses, and also helped you to  

feel a bit more relaxed about using everything so  perfectly. Just gradually, through the awareness  

of these tenses, they will come to you. You will  activate them, or maybe they will just disappear  

from the language, in which case we will all  have a huge celebration! I hope you've enjoyed  

this lesson. For more on this topic, click here.  Remember to also check out my complete online  

course, and don't forget to like and subscribe.  Thank you for watching, and happy studies!