Past perfect continuous tense examples, sentences and formation. Positive, negative and interrogative sentences are explained with examples. You can download PDF of this lesson.
Past Perfect Continuous Tense Examples and Formation
Past perfect continuous tense explains an ongoing action that started and continued for some time in the past. 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 past. To explain time reference “for” and “since” are used and it describes when the action started and how long it continued in the past.
Formation
Subject + had been + ing form of verb + object+ since /for phrases.
Examples
She had been drinking milk out the carton when mom walked into the drawing room.
I had been working at the company for five years when I got the promotion.
The program that was terminated had been working well since 1943.
Related Post: Future Perfect continuous tense
Affirmative sentences
In the case of the formation of the affirmative sentences simply 1st form of verb is used in the addition ing .And also we can say that forth form of verb is used.“had been” is the helping verb of this tense.
Formation
Subject + had been + ing form of verb + object+ since /for phrases.
Examples
- He had been living in this house for two months.
- We had not been bathing in the rain since morning.
- I had been writing book on various topics for two hours.
- They had been playing cricket match before it started to storm.
- Jan had been gossiping in the coffee shop for two hours.
Also Study: Future Indefinite tense
Negative sentences
In the making of negative sentences we use not after (had) and before been.
Formation
Subject+ helping verb (had) + not + been +1st form of verb + ing + object + since/ for phrases
Examples
- Boys had not been dancing for three hours.
- Girls had not been participating in sports for two hours.
- She had not been riding a horse for two hours.
Interrogative sentences
In the formation of interrogative sentences after had we put been and not and last? Question mark.
Formation
Helping verb (had) + subject + been + 1st form of verb + ing +object + since/for +?
Examples
- Had he been living in this house for two years?
- Had I been reading this book for two hours?
- Had we been living here since 1998?
- Had he been cooking in this home for many months?
Also study: Phrasal verbs with Meanings
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