Concerning an exercise where one has to choose between Past Perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous, which of these tenses would you choose for these 2 sentences:
1 - They .......... (talk) for hours before they realised what time it was.
2 - At the time of the accident he ......... (drive) for less than 3 months.
Thanks in advance!
In my opinion, we have two choices for each sentence.
In sentence 1a, the Past Perfect can be used to show that one thing (“talk”) happened at a specific time in the past before a second thing (“time”).
1a - “They had talked for hours before they realised what time it was” = Past Perfect.
In sentence 1b, the Past Perfect Continuous can be used to show that one thing (“talk”) happened for a period of time in the past before a second thing (“time”).
1b - “They had been talking for hours before they realised what time it was” = Past Perfect Continuous.
The talking did not take place at a specific time. It took place over a period of time, (“for hours”), therefore, in my opinion, the appropriate tense is the Past Perfect Continuous.
In sentence 2a, the Past Perfect can be used to show that one thing (“drive”) happened at a specific time in the past before a second thing (“accident”).
2a - At the time of the accident he had driven for less than 3 months = Past Perfect.
In sentence 2b, the Past Perfect Continuous can be used to show that one thing (“drive”) happened for a period of time in the past before a second thing (“accident”).
2a - At the time of the accident he had been driving for less than 3 months = Past Perfect Continuous.
The driving did not take place at a specific time. It took place over a period of time, (“for less than 3 months”), therefore, in my opinion, the appropriate tense is the Past Perfect Continuous.
Les
