I am really struggling to understand the differences between Past Perfect Continuous and Past Continuous AND Past Perfect and Past simple.
So are these correct?
I had been trying to find this book online but I bought it from the
store.
Should it be like this and why if not?
I was trying to find this book online but I bought it from the store.
What about this one:
It had been snowing since I went to sleep and when I got up from bed everything outside was white.
I really wish I could understand that 🙁 Please guys help me.
Best Answer
In the context there is no real difference in meaning between the first and second example. There may be slight difference in emphasis, but either could be used and would be correct.
The last example is not very well written, it looks a little childish. When snow is falling we say "It is snowing". The perfect form would be "It has been snowing" (used when discussing a past action with effects in the present). In the final sentence, the speaker is describing a sequence of events in the past.
Snow started to fall -> I went to sleep while snow was still falling ->I woke up and got out of bed -> I saw that everything looked white.
(After a heavy snowfall, there will be a white layer of snow covering everything. See for example a news report heavy snow)
The use of the tense "It had been snowing" indicates that the start of snowfall had preceded the past action of going to sleep. However, this isn't a very well written sentence, and there are other ways of expressing the same idea.