Had vs Had Been
Had and Had been are two words that are often confused as words that denote the same meaning. Actually, they are not so. They are two different words that convey different meanings. The word ‘had’ is an auxiliary verb, and it is used in the past perfect tense. On the other hand, the word ‘had been’ is an auxiliary verb, and it is used in the past perfect continuous tense. This is the main difference between the two words.
Observe the two sentences,
1. I had written a letter to him.
2. She had given a flower to him.
In both the sentences, you can find that the verb ‘had’ is used in the past perfect tense. Hence, it takes the verb in its past participle form. In the examples given above, the verbs that are used in their past participle forms are ‘written’ and ‘given’ respectively.
Observe the two sentences,
1. She had been writing to him since then.
2. You had been listening to his advice then.
In both the sentences, you can see that the auxiliary verb ‘had been’ is used in the past perfect continuous tense. In the first sentence, it is used with the verb ‘writing’ and in the second sentence it is used with the verb ‘listening’.
It is interesting to note that the word ‘had been’ is sometime understood in the sense of ‘visited’ as in the sentences,
1. I had been to London twice.
2. She had been to his house many times in the past.
In both the sentences, you can find that the word ‘had been’ is used in the sense of ‘visited’ and hence, the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘I visited London twice’, and the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘she visited his house many time in the past’.