Learn English – was working vs had been working

past-vs-past-perfecttense

I am going to make up two similar sentences.

(1) I didn't have time to do anything else because I was working on my project.

(2) I didn't have time to do anything else because I had been working on my project.

I don't understand how the two tenses simple past continuous (was) and past perfect continuous (had been) change the meaning of the sentences.

Can someone please explain it? Thanks a lot.

Best Answer

In your sentence,

I didn't have time to do anything else (project B) because I was working on my project A.

A possible nuance is

I was working on my project A (instead of project B).

could mean you chose to work on project A instead of project B.

I had been working on my project A (before starting project B).

might be understood as project A got in the way of project B.

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