know in the Past Perfect Continuous

[Lost_Soul]

Hi,

I stumbled upon this sentence in a book I'm reading:

[Alan]

Hi,

In the sense of 'have knowledge of', this construction - 'had been knowing' strikes me as very unnatural because the meaning of 'know' here is in itself a verb that suggests a continuous concept. It would be simpler to say: 'she had known (about) things' Some verbs that do not usually have a continuous use can take a continuous form when the meaning is different from the first meaning. 'See' is an example. Usually this is used in the simple form when it means observe something with your eyes but if you use the verb to mean visiting/dating/getting to know someone, it can be used in the continuous form as in: They have been seeing each each for some time now.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Alan

Thanks for your explanation !

[Jamie (K)]

When I read the sentence, I understood "had been knowing" to mean that the woman had been receiving information or getting telepathic revelations. Somehow information was coming to her. So that odd usage of "know" is more about receiving the information than about having it.

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Jamie

Yes, your theory about the telepathic way of getting information holds water - she had really been doing that. :)

[Alan]

Hi,

I feel that suggesting 'had been knowing' indicates receiving telepathic information is stretching it a bit. If that was the intended meaning, I would at least add 'about'.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms