problem in using " had been"

farhan1111 · #1 Sunday, May 22, 2011

AoA, Generally, we use had been for sentences pertaining to past perfect continious tense and in passive voice but i went through certain sentences in which "had been" was used despite of the fact that they were not of past continious tense. like
1)Shaid Afridi had been mercurial.
2)If my sister had been diligent with her studies, she wouldn't be working for minimum wage
so kindly tell me what is the exact rule of using word had been. i am very much confused.

SYEDA SABAHAT · #2 Monday, May 23, 2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by farhan1111

AoA, Generally, we use had been for sentences pertaining to past perfect continious tense and in passive voice but i went through certain sentences in which "had been" was used despite of the fact that they were not of past continious tense. like
1)Shaid Afridi had been mercurial.
2)If my sister had been diligent with her studies, she wouldn't be working for minimum wage
so kindly tell me what is the exact rule of using word had been. i am very much confused.

farhan1111 i hope it might help you.

English Grammar

farhan try this site too its very good it will help you alot.

http://www.eslcafe.com/grammar/verbs_other_verbs05.html

SYEDA SABAHAT · #3 Tuesday, May 24, 2011

farhan i think ap ne ise nhi parha zara dobara parho aur apne sentences ke sath relate karo apko samjh a jaye ga.

The Past Perfect Continuous tense is used to refer to a continuous, ongoing action in the past which was already completed by the time another action in the past took place. In the following examples, the verbs in the Past Perfect Continuous tense are underlined.
e.g. I had been waiting for two months by the time I received the reply.
He had been thinking about his friends shortly before they called.

In the preceding examples, the verbs had been waiting and had been thinking are in the Past Perfect Continuous tense, and the verbs received and called are in the Simple Past. The use of the Past Perfect Continuous tense indicates that the actions of waiting and thinking were continuous, and were completed by the time the actions expressed by the verbs in the Simple Past took place.

i hope this time apko samjh a jaye. otherwise xaara will tell you better than me.

unsolved_Mystery · #4 Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Consult any book of English Grammer and study "To have" as an auxiliary verb. The verb “to have” is used as an auxiliary verb to help other verbs create the perfect tense:
Auxiliary verb have [+ past participle].
Also study "state verbs" and "State actions". Actually its simple Past Perfect Tense what you have mentioned above.

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