Past perfect continuous tense

Study this situation:                                                       អានជាភាសាខ្មែរ

Yesterday, Dave and Susan went to the park to do aerobics. They did it

for an hour and they took a rest. They both sat on a bench. Then Mr. Bob came to talk to them. Seeing a lot of sweat on their body, he asked, “had you been doing exercise?” “Yes, we had been doing aerobics for an hour before you arrived” they answered.

The highlighted sentences are called the past perfect continuous tense.

            This is the form of the past perfect continuous tense:

            Positive:  Subject + had + been + V+ ING+ ...

Note: the auxiliary verb “had” is used with every subject.

·         Mr. Sela had been waiting 30 minutes before his friends arrived.

·         I’d been doing my exercise for an hour when the light went out.

·         She’d been writing her essay since 7 pm to meet the deadline.

            (she’d=she had)

Note: the short form ’d can be ‘had’ or ‘would’, but always remember that “would” is followed by a bare infinitive( infinitive without to) and “had” is followed by a past participle(V3).

Examples:

·         I’d be happy to help you. ( “be” is an infinitive ,so I’d= I would)

·         I’d met him before. ( “met” is a past participle, so I’d=I had)

Negative:  Subject + had +NOT+ been + V+ ING+ ...

·         They had not been doing the washing-up when I got home.

     (The clothes were still dirty)

·         He hadn’t been writing his essay. (hadn’t =had not)

·         Mr. Sitha hadn’t been drinking for many months.

Question:  (Wh-word)+ Had + Subject+ been + V-ing +...?

·         Where had you been studying English?

·         Had she been lying on the beach?

·         Why had he been crying?

Note: For continuous tenses like the present continuous tense, etc. you must know the spelling rule of V+ING. Always remember that non-action verbs (state verbs/ stative verb) are not used in the continuous tenses.

                        

 Click here to learn about the spelling rule ofV+ING

 Click here to see learn about the non – actionverbs.

            Short answer:

·         Had Dara been working hard to pass the exam?

Yes, he had

No, he hadn’t

·         Had they been learning a lot?

Yes, they had

No, they hadn’t

             The past perfect continuous tense is used:

1.              to talk about a situation or activity that happened over a period of time before another past a situation or activity.

·         My teacher had been teaching for half an hour before I arrived.

·         He had been seeking for a job for a few months before he got one.

·         I’d been writing my essay since the morning to complete it.

2.              to talk about a past action that went on a period of time and caused a visible result later on in the past.

·         Her face looked sad and her eyes were red (result). She had been crying ( cause).

·         The ground was wet everywhere (result). It had been raining ( cause).

 See also the past perfect simple

Thanks for reading!