Question
Updated on
29 Jul 2019
- Russian
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English (US)
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Swedish
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English (UK)
Question about English (US)
Can you explain me some grammar?
When exactly I need to use “had been”?
Can you explain me some grammar?
When exactly I need to use “had been”?
When exactly I need to use “had been”?
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29 Jul 2019
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- English (US)
Yes. Its called past perfect tense. You use it when you are mentioning two things that occured in the past.
"I had been eating when the phone rang."
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- English (US)
Yes. Its called past perfect tense. You use it when you are mentioning two things that occured in the past.
"I had been eating when the phone rang."
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- Russian
- English (US)
Sure! First I just want to let you know you can change the question you asked a little to make it sound more natural. Instead of "Can you explain me some grammar" you could say "Can you please explain to me how to use "had been" correctly in a sentence?". Even if you just add the word to in front of me it sounds a lot more natural.
As for your actual question about the use of "had been" it's used to denote that something has already happened; or sometimes the length of time between two events. I think the best way for me to show you is to give you some examples.
-It had been seven years since the last time he came home for the holidays.
-The money had been right here when I left the house.
-We used to always walk everywhere when I was a kid, that's just the way it had been back then.
I hope that helps. please let me know if you need another example or I didn't clearly explain something.
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