Unit 5. Describing Accomplishments

She was surprised to get such a good grade on the test because she hadn’t studied for it.

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​By the age of 50, he had graduated from five different universities.

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had ('d) + past participle

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​We use the past perfect to talk about a completed action that happened before another past event. It refers to a past event that happened before another past event.

He was happy when the bus finally arrived because he had been waiting for three hours.

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​I had been training for months before the competition.

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had ('d) been + verb -ing

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​We use the past perfect progressive to talk about ongoing process, event, or action that happened before another event in the past.

Don't use the follwing verbs in past perfect progressive tenses:

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​know (had been knowing)

​like (had been liking)

​be (had been being)

​have (have been having)