The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an action that started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. It is formed using "had" + "been" + the present participle of the verb. The past perfect continuous tense shows the duration of an action before something else happened in the past. Some examples of its use include describing how long someone had been waiting or working somewhere before another event occurred. It can also be used to indicate the cause of something by showing an action that had been ongoing in the past.
7. Examples:
•They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.
•She had been working at that company for three years when it
went out of business.
•How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?
•Mike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day
at work.
•James had been teaching at the university for more than a
year before he left for Asia.
•A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved
to Ankara?
B: I had not been studying Turkish very long.
8. Using the past perfect
continuous before
another action in the past
is a good way to show
cause and effect.
9. Examples:
• Jason was tired because he had been jogging.
• Sam gained weight because he had been overeating.
• Betty failed the final test because she had not been
attending class.
11. .The past perfect continuous is used to
express how long something had been
going on before something important
happened in the past. FORM:
[had been + present participle]
.Use the Past Continuous to indicate
that a longer action in the past was
interrupted by the shorter action in
the Simple Past.
FORM:
[was/were + present participle]
12. Past
Continuous
Examples:
.I was watching TV when she called.
.When the phone rang, she was writing a
letter.
.While we were having the picnic, it started to
rain.
.What were you doing when the earthquake
started?
.I was listening to my iPod, so I didn’t hear
the fire alarm.
13. .You had been waiting there for more than
two hours when she finally arrived.
.Had you been waiting there for more than
two hours when she finally arrived?
.You had not been waiting there for more
than two hours when she finally arrived.
past perfect
continuous
Examples:
16. Present Perfect Continuous Tense is used
to express an action which started before now
( or in the past ) and has continued up until
now ( or into the present ) . The action may
not be finish at that time. This action may
still be continuing or may have just finished.
17.
18. Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used to express a past action
which started in the past and continued to happen after another
action or time in the past.
( In such sentences, Past Perfect Continuous Tense tell us “how
long the action had continued” or ” the duration of the action” is
emphasized more in this tense. Namely, Past Perfect Continuous
Tense tells us that an event happened and continued for a
certain period of time in the past, not in the present)
