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Here's the context.

Scott said he had been studying Greek for more than five years. If he had been studying the language that long, I think he would have been able to interpret for us at the airport.

  1. The reason he wasn't able to interpret for us at the airport was that he hadn't been studying Greek for more than five years.
  1. The reason he wasn't able to interpret for us at the airport was that he didn't study Greek for more than five years.
  1. The reason he wasn't able to interpret for us at the airport was that he wasn't studying Greek for more than five years.

I feel #1,2 are possible but, #3 sounds awkward. but still, I'm not sure how which one is different from others. Could you let me know the differences between them?

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  • Why switch tense at all? #1 is perfectly good.
    – Luke Sawczak
    Commented Oct 28 at 3:41
  • In real life, none of them would be particularly natural. Does the speaker mean that Scott had studied Greek for less than five years, or that he hadn't studied it at all? They would say something like He had only studied Greek for six months or He was only a beginner.
    – Kate Bunting
    Commented Oct 28 at 9:00
  • 1
    Are you trying to say that it's been more than 5 years since he studied Greek, or that the length of time he spent studying Greek was less than 5 years?
    – Barmar
    Commented Oct 28 at 16:34
  • Yes, I'm trying to say that he spent studying Greek was less than 5 years
    – Jihoon Yang
    Commented Oct 29 at 0:33

1 Answer 1

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The phrase didn't study Greek for more than five years is fine. The studying if any was less than five years.

The phrase hadn't been studying Greek for more than five years is fine. The studying if any may have started less than five years back if it was still ongoing at the time of the attempt to interpret. If the studying had completed, it was shorter than five years.

The phrase wasn't studying Greek for more than five years can't work; wasn't studying Greek alone is fine but not with for more than five years.

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