Today's English Grammar

take it over the top

The phrase “take it over the top” is an idiomatic expression that means to go beyond what is expected, to exceed the usual or normal level, or to add an excessive or exaggerated element to something. It suggests pushing something to an extreme or taking it to an exceptional level.

The chef took the dessert over the top by garnishing it with edible gold leaf, drizzling it with a luxurious truffle-infused sauce, and serving it on a plate made of spun sugar.

这位厨师通过在甜点上撒上可食用的金箔、淋上奢华的松露调味酱，并将其盛放在由蔗糖制成的盘子上，将甜点做得非常奢华。

Past perfect continuous (I had been doing)

Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining, but the ground was very wet. It had been raining. It was not raining when I looked out of the window. The sun was shining. But it had been raining before. had been -ing is the past perfect continuous:

I/we/you/they   |       |  (= I’d etc.)    |          | doing
he/she/it       |  had  |  (= he’d etc.)   |   been   | working etc.

You can say that something had been happening before something else happened: We’d been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain heavily.

Verbs are not normally used in the present continuous:

We use continuous forms (I’m waiting, it’s raining etc.) for actions and happenings that have started but not finished. Some verbs (for example, know and like) are not normally used in this way. We don’t say ‘I am knowing’, ‘they are liking’. We say ‘I know’, ‘they like’

like want need prefer
know realise understand recognise
believe suppose remember mean
belong fit contain consist seem