Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Definition: The past perfect continuous tense shows actions that were ongoing in the past and ended before another past action. You can create this tense by combining “had been” + present participle (verbs with “ing” ending).
There Are Generally Two Uses For This Tense:
1. Ongoing continuous events over a period of time before another action or event in the past. These must be continuous verbs, and cannot be actions that are still happening in the present.
Examples:
>You HAD BEEN WORKING for hours when I tried to call you.
>The dog and the cat HAD BEEN FIGHTING all day yesterday before you came home from work.
2. A past action that illustrates cause and effect. You must use a continuous verb to show the action that happened first.
Examples:
>You were feeling sick because you HAD BEEN EATING too much junk food all day.
>I failed the test because I HAD BEEN STUDYING the wrong subject.
>The fireman failed to connect the hose because he HAD NOT BEEN KEEPING it properly maintained.
Rule For How To Make Tense:
If Sub=I, You, Singular or Plural [Same Rule for all Subjects]
1. Sub+had been+Verb+ing+since/for(time)
2. Sub+hadn’t been+Verb+ing+since/for(time)
3. How+had+Sub+been+Verb+ing+since/for(time)
4. Why+hadn’t+Sub+been+Verb+ing+since/for(time)
More Examples:
Affirmative:
- We had been talking to him for half an hour.
- They had been working on this plan for years.
- I had been teaching for ten years.
- She had been writing a book since Monday.
- The teacher had been giving them assignment for a week.
Negative:
- We had not been seeing anything unusual here.
- The child had not been improving for past two years.
- They had not been watching movies since afternoon.
- She had not been singing a song since morning.
- They had not been disobeying him since a long time.
Interrogative:
- Had he been looking at you for a while?
- Had the people been tolerating injustice?
- Why had he been behaving so rudely with you?
- Why had you been trying this number for hours?
- What had you been expecting from him?