Past Perfect Continuous Tense
What is the past perfect continuous tense? or what is the past perfect progressive tense?
The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past.
Uses of the past perfect continuous tense
The Past Perfect Continuous tense is like the Past Perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past.
The past perfect continuous tense is used to perform two main functions. They are:
- To denote an action that has been the cause of another action or event in the past.
- To represent an action that started at some point in the past and continued or progressed till a particular time in the recent past.
For example:
- Sunil started waiting at 10 am. I arrived at 12am. When I arrived, Sunil had been waiting for two hours.
- I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.
- Suddenly, my car broke down. I was not surprised. It had not been running well for a long time.
Denoting an action that is the cause of another action in the past
- Anil was exhausted as he had been traveling continuously for five days.
- Neelam was angry because she had been waiting for them the whole day.
- I was angry because students had not been following my instructions.
- The teacher was not happy as students had not been practicing their lessons.
Representing an action that progressed in the past until another action in the past
- Do you know how long Sunita had been working at the college before she moved to England?
- I had been waiting to hear from the admissions officer for more than a month before I applied to other colleges.
- I don’t think the place had been functioning well for a very long time before it shut down.
- He had been running around for hours looking for my dog before I found him with my neighbor at the park.
Note: When, for, since, and before are words that you may see used alongside the past perfect continuous tense.
Rules for Affirmative Sentences in the Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Structure of the sentence: Subject + had + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- I had been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen.
- You had been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- He had been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- She had been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- They had been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
Rules for Negative Sentences in the Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Structure of the sentence: Subject + had + not + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- I had not been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen.
- You had not been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- He had not been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- She had not been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
- They had not been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen.
Rules for Interrogative Sentences in the Past Perfect Continuous Tense
There are two types of Interrogative sentences:
Yes/No type of question
The sentences that start with helping verbs or auxiliary verbs are called the Yes/No type of question.
Structure of Yes/No Type: Had + subject + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- Had I been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen?
- Had you been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had he been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had she been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had they been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
Wh-word type of question
The sentences which start with question words are called the Wh-word type of questions.
Structure for wh-word: Question word + had + subject + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
- Why had I been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen?
- How had you been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Where had he been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- When had she been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Why had they been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
Rules for Interrogative Negative Sentences in the Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Structure of Yes/No Type: Had + subject + not +been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
Examples:
- Had I not been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen.
- Had you not been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had he not been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had she not been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Had they not been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
Wh-word Negative type of question
Structure for wh-word: Question word + had + subject + not + been + present participle (verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence.
- Why had I not been cooking my favorite dish when she walked into the kitchen?
- How had you not been cooking your favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Where had he not been cooking his favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- When had she not been cooking her favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
- Why had they not been cooking their favorite dish when Meena walked into the kitchen?
More examples of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense
- He had been drinking milk out of the carton when Mom walked into the kitchen.
- I had been working at the company for five years when I got the promotion.
- Rama had been walking five miles a day before she broke her leg.
- The program that was terminated had been working well since 1949.
- Reena had been playing the piano for 35 years when she was finally asked to do a solo with the local orchestra.
- He had been throwing rocks at her window for ten minutes before she finally came out on the balcony and said, “Hey, Romeo.”
- She had been working with that company for fifteen years before she gave resignation.
- Rahim had been working with a company for four years before he started her business.
- Saroj had been writing a poem since morning.
- The sun had been shining for five hours.
- Had the sun been shining for five hours?
- Had the sun not been shining for five hours?
- Question: Had birds been chirping since morning?
- Answer: Yes, birds had been chirping since morning.
- Question: Had you been dominating Indian market since last two decades before the new company came?
- Answer: Yes, I had been dominating Indian market since last two decades before the new company came into the market.
- Question: Had she been waiting for me for twenty minutes before she caught the bus?
- Answer: Yes, she had been waiting for me for twenty minutes before she caught the bus.
- Question: What had you been doing there for so many days before you started this job?
- Answer: I had been learning a new computer programming language for many days before I started this job.
- Question: Had Anil been playing football since six in the morning before he opened his shop?
- Answer: Yes, Anil had been playing football since six in the morning before he opened his shop.
- Question: Had the baby been sleeping for 3 hours before she woke up?
- Answer: Yes, the baby had been sleeping for 3 hours before she woke up.
- Question: Had it not been raining for five hours before I closed my shop?
- Answer: Yes, it had been raining for five hours before I closed my shop.
- Question: Had you been running this shop since last twenty years before joining this job?
- Answer: Yes, I had been running this shop since last twenty years before joining this job.
- Question: Had Raju been waiting for me since last six months?
- Answer: No, Raju had not been waiting for me since last six months.
- Question: Had Seema been visiting the employment exchange for many weeks before she got the job?
- Answer: Yes, Seema had been visiting the employment exchange for many weeks before she got the job.
