Past Perfect

Continuous
 When to use?
• The Past Perfect Continuous (also
called Past Perfect Progressive) is
a verb tense which is used to
show that an action started in the
past and continued up to another
point in the past
 When to use?
• USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Past
• We use the past perfect continuous to show that something started in the
past and continued up until another time in the past:
• 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.
• We’d been living in Berlin for three months by 1945.
 When to use?
• USE 2 Cause of Something in the Past
• Using the past perfect continuous before another action in the past is a
good way to show cause and effect:
• Jason was tired because he had been jogging.
• Sam gained weight because he had been overeating.
Examples
Billy and the other scouts had been hiking on the mountain all
morning when they realized they were lost. They looked each
direction. They did not see the camp. They did not see the river.
The scouts were tired because they had been hiking for four
hours. They were worried because they were lost. They sat down
under a tree.
But Billy was not worried. Billy had been hiking these mountains
with his dad his whole life. Billy's dad had been teaching him
how to use a compass for three years. Billy climbed a tree and
saw the river. He knew the camp was north of the river. Billy
looked at his compass. He guided the scouts back to the camp.
 Past Perfect Continuous vs. Past
Continuous
• If you do not include a duration such as "for five minutes," "for two weeks" or "since
Friday," you can use the Past Continuous instead of Past Perfect Continuous. This can
change the meaning of the sentence. Past continuous emphasizes interrupted
actions, whereas Past Perfect Continuous emphasizes a duration of time before
something in the past:
• He was tired because he was exercising so hard.
This sentence emphasizes that he was tired because he was exercising at that exact moment.
• He was tired because he had been exercising so hard.
This sentence emphasizes that he was tired because he had been exercising over a period of time. It
is possible that he was still exercising at that moment OR that he had just finished.
 How to form?
had been + verb + ing
Positive Questions Negative
I had been swimming Had I been swimming? I had not been
swimming
You had been swimming Had you been swimming? You had not been
swimming
She/He/It had been swimming Had she/he/it been swimming? They had not been
swimming
 Contracted Forms:
• Contractions are often used in conversation or in informal writing, but you
will rarely find them used in formal contexts:

Long Form Contraction Example

had …’d they’d been following us
had not …’d not/… hadn’t I’d not/I hadn’t been following
 How to form “Wh” questions?
Subject Question:
• In wh-questions, when the question word is the subject of the sentence, the
form of the question is similar to the form of a statement:
• Statement: Joseph had been driving when the accident happened.
• Wh-question: Who had been driving when the accident happened?
 How to form “Wh” questions?
Any Other Part:
• When the question word is any other part of the sentence, the auxiliary verb
had comes after the question word and is followed by the subject, the
auxiliary verb been, and the -ing form of the main verb: Question word +
the auxiliary verb had + subject + been + ing form of the main verb, etc.
• Statement: She had been living in St. Louis at the time.
• Wh-question: Where had she been living at the time?
 Time Expressions/Signal Words  
For The water had been boiling for half an hour before anybody noticed it.
In 2014 The Browns had been living in London for twenty years.
Since It was now seven o'clock and he was tired because he had been working since dawn.
I had been working for Nike since 2005.
We had been waiting for Chris since morning when he finally arrived at 4 p.m.
She had been studying since morning and felt very tired.
When They had been watching TV when the lights went off.
She had been working at that company for three years when it went bankrupt.
How long How long had you been waiting before she came?
How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?
How long had you been studying English before you moved to London?
Before I had been sleeping for three hours before the alarm clock went off.
They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.
James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for
London.
QUESTIONS?