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Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous tense consists of a past form of have (had) + been + Present
Participle (main verb + ing). We use it when we want to show that some pastaction was
ongoing until another past action happened, like in the example:
I had been waiting for my doctor for about three hours when he finally arrived.
In order to create questions inPast Perfect Continuous, we need to switch the auxiliary
verb had with the subject of the sentence. To create negations we have to add a
particle not after the auxiliary:
Affirmativestatement: He had been working for that company for about ten years when
it went out of business.
Question: Had he been working for that company for about ten years when it went out
of business?Negation: He had not been working for that company for about ten years when it went
out of business.
ESL students may confuse Past Perfect Continuous with Past Continuous tense. The maindifference is that while Past Perfect Continuous specifically emphasizes the duration of
the past actions (for five hours, for a couple of years), Past Continuous only refers to
actions inthe past that were interrupted:
Past Perfect Continuous: We had been studying together for two years before the city
closed the school.
Past Continuous: We were studying together when Erincame in and distracted everyone.
Non-continuous verbs (own, belong, possess, want, need, be, exist, cost, contain, care)
should not be used with Past Perfect Continuous. Instead, we shoulduse Past Perfect:
Incorrect: I had been owning my house for a year before I decided to sell it.
Correct: I had owned my house for a year before I decided to sell it.
Note: Usually we placeadverbs of frequency (always, only, never, ever, still, just) right
after the auxiliary verb in Past Perfect Continuous:
Rob had only been using his iPhone for five minutes before it broke.