Past Perfect Continuous
AFFIRMATIVE
The affirmative form of the verb in past perfect continuous consists of three words- a form of the verb to have in past tense (had/’d/), the past participle of the verb to be (been) and the – ing form of the main verb.
| 1. I had/’d been reading | 1. We had/’d been reading |
| 2. You had/’d been reading | 2. You had/’d been reading |
| 3. He/she/it had/’d been reading | 3. They had/’d been reading |
NEGATIVE
We add the negative particle not/n’t after the verb had.
| 1. I had not/hadn’t been reading | 1. We had not/hadn’t been reading |
| 2. You had not/hadn’t been reading | 2. You had not/hadn’t been reading |
| 3. He/she/it had not/hadn’t been reading | 3. They had not/hadn’t been reading |
INTERROGTIVE
We change the place of had and the subject of the sentence to form questions.
| 1. Had I been reading? | 1. Had we been reading? |
| 2. Had you been reading? | 2. Had you been reading? |
| 3. Had he/she/it been reading? | 3. Had they been reading? |
The short answers are the same as for Past Perfect.
We use the Past Perfect Continuous:
For an action which started and finished in the past before another past action (with emphasis on duration).
We use the past perfect continuous tense to talk about a continuous action which happened before another action or a stated time in the past. We usually use since and for to show the exact duration of the action.
Note that we can use the past perfect continuous only with active verbs. State verbs do not have continuous tenses and can be used only in their simple equivalent.
Example:
I had been studying English for 7 years before I accepted the job offer.
She had been teaching History since 2004 before she decided to study Geography.
For an action which lasted for some time in the past and whose result was visible in the past.
We use the past perfect continuous tense to talk about past actions which continued for some time and their result was visible in the past. We can use phrases such as: all day, all morning, all afternoon etc to emphasize the duration of the action.
Example:
She was very tired.(result) She had been working all day.
He was out of breath. (result) He had been running.
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