Past Perfect Continuous
Basic form
Quick examples
- The boys had been quarreling for half an hour when we arrived home.
- I had been dating Angelina for 3 years before we got married.
- If it hadn't been raining, we would have gone to the park.
- She told me that she had been working as a teacher for over 40 years.
Use
The Past Perfect Continuous is used to talk about actions or situations that were in progress before some other actions or situations. There are also other uses.
- Duration of a past action up to a certain point in the past
- Showing cause of an action or situation
- Third conditional sentences
- Reported speech
Use 1: Duration of a Past Action
The main use of the Past Perfect Continuous is to express actions or situations that were in progress before some other actions or situations.
- The boys had been quarreling for half an hour when we arrived home.
- I had been dating Angelina for 3 years before we got married.
Use 2: Showing Cause
Use this tense to show cause of an action or situation in the past.
- John was in a detention because he had been misbehaving.
- The road was wet because it had been raining.
- I had to go on a diet because I had been eating too much sugar.
- Jessica got sunburnt because she had been lying in the sun too long.
Use 3: Third Conditional
Remember that this tense is also used in third conditional sentences.
- If it hadn't been raining, we would have gone to the park.
Use 4: Reported Speech
This tense also appears in Reported speech.
- She said she knew Charlie had been lying to her.
Form
Positive Sentences
| Subject | HAD | BEEN | Verb (continuous form) | |||
| e.g. he, she, a dog, etc. | e.g. walking, going, taking, etc. |
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[ Father: When I looked at our daughter Kathy I knew she had been crying. (Use 1) ]
| Examples | Use | |
 | I had been running for an hour before I twisted my angle. | 1 |
| It was wet outside: It had been raining. | 2 |
| If I had known it, I wouldn't have bought it. | 3 |
| Mary said she had never been swimming so much in one day. | 4 |
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[ He said he had been training. (Use 4, Reported Speech) ]
Questions
| HAD | Subject | BEEN | Verb (continuous form) | |||
| e.g. he, she, a dog, etc. | e.g. walking, going, taking, etc. |
| Examples | Use | |
| For how many hours had Fred been painting the house when the ladder fell? | 1 |
| How long had the player been playing before he scored? | 1 |
Negative Sentences
| Subject | HAD + NOT | BEEN | Verb (continuous form) | |||
| e.g. he, she, a dog, etc. | e.g. walking, going, taking, etc. |
| Examples | Use | |
| Mary hadn't been waiting for longer than 10 minutes. | 1 |
| He said he was't tired because he hadn't been working that day. | 3 |
| If it hadn't been raining, we would have played football. | 3 |
| If I hadn't been studying all night, I would have problems with this test now. | 4 |