He had been eating oysters

Despite the high unlikeliness of you ever being in a situation where this sentence would make sense, please note that, as my 16-year old cousin’s English paper indicates: “He had been eating oysters for 30 minutes when a bear arrived” is translated by “Il mangeait des huîtres depuis une demi-heure quand un ours est arrivé”.

After all, we don’t just learn a language to communicate in a practical way! Expressing crazy scenarios where bears interrupt oyster orgies can provide poetic pleasure… or in my cousin’s case, also knock a few points off a test.