Hello! I was reading this textbook for advanced EFL learners, which I think was not written by native speakers, when I found the following sentences:
(a) I have studied since Mr. Wang called.
(b) I had studied until Mr. Wang called.
(c) Buddhism had existed when Jesus Christ was born.
(d) In Brazil, the currency had been URV, before Itamar Franco changed it.
The thing is, they all sound rather awkward to my ears, but as I'm not a native speaker, I was wondering if you could give me some help here. To me, (a) and (b) should be in the progressive form: been studying instead of studied. And as for (c) and (d), I believe there should be something about how long those situations had been in existence. For example, what do you think of Buddhism had been in existence for centuries when Jesus Christ was born? Are those sentences I found in the book really wrong? If so, why?
(a) I have studied since Mr. Wang called.
(b) I had studied until Mr. Wang called.
(c) Buddhism had existed when Jesus Christ was born.
(d) In Brazil, the currency had been URV, before Itamar Franco changed it.
The thing is, they all sound rather awkward to my ears, but as I'm not a native speaker, I was wondering if you could give me some help here. To me, (a) and (b) should be in the progressive form: been studying instead of studied. And as for (c) and (d), I believe there should be something about how long those situations had been in existence. For example, what do you think of Buddhism had been in existence for centuries when Jesus Christ was born? Are those sentences I found in the book really wrong? If so, why?
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