A detailed guide to Past Perfect Continuous. Comparisons with Present Perfect Continuous and Past Continuous!

Today we're going to look at one of the most neglected of all English tenses - Past Perfect Continuous.

Why is it neglected by students all over the world? Probably because we are introduced to it towards the end of our English courses and most of us believe that we can communicate easily without it.

To be honest - this thinking is not false :) Past Perfect Continuous is not essential to survive during your foreign holidays and no, you will not have a communication breakdown with your British friends unless you use it on a daily basis. BUT if your goal is bigger than to simply communicate in English; if you wish to really master this language like  native speakers do - take a look at this article and don't be scared to use it during your next English chat!

For the printable PDF version of this article click here.

PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

CONSTRUCTION :

AFFIRMATIVE
NEGATIVE
QUESTIONS
SINGULAR
SINGULAR
SINGULAR
I had been waiting *!
I hadn’t (=had not)been waiting
Had I been waiting?
You had been waiting
You hadn’t been waiting
Had you been waiting?
She / He/ It had been waiting
She/ He/ It hadn’t been waiting
Had she/ he/ it been waiting?
PLURAL
PLURAL
PLURAL
We had been waiting
We hadn’t been waiting
Had we been waiting?
You had been waiting
You hadn’t been waiting
Had you been waiting?
They had been waiting
They hadn’t been waiting
Had they been waiting?


* In Past Perfect Continuous we add –ING to infinitives.

 ! ONLY dynamic verbs can be used in Past Perfect Continuous! Stative verbs (ex: love; like; hate; understand; know etc.) are used in Past Perfect Simple. Check the complete list of stative verbs here.
 
USAGE:

- We use Past Perfect Continuous to talk about a past action that had been happening for some time (it was in progress) BEFORE another past action took place.

-The action in Past Perfect Continuous is often interrupted by the action that happens after it (we use Past Simple for the following action).

-There is no connection with the present; the speaker simply states facts about the past situations.

Ex: I had been sunbathing for a few hours when it suddenly started to rain. (The action of sunbathing was 1st. The rain was 2nd. The rain interrupted the sunbathing when sunbathing was still in progress. The entire situation happened in the past; there is no connection with the present time. We just say what happened; we state a fact).

KEY WORDS:

·         BEFORE               They had been playing for hours before the parents told them to go to beds.

·         FOR                       I’d been waiting for 30 minutes before the waiter brought the food.

·         WHEN                  It had been raining heavily for hours when the sun finally showed up.

 


THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS AND PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Present Perfect Continuous is always connected with the present. The action that we are talking about has just finished or we can still see the effects of that action.

Past Perfect Continuous is set entirely in the past. We use it to recall some stories from our further past.

Ex: He is all in sweat. He’s been running. (We can still see the effects of running on him – he’s all in sweat now).

Ex: He was all in sweat. He had been running. (We recall some past situation. He is not in sweat anymore).

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAST CONTINUOUS AND PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Past Continues describes the background of some past action. We use it to comment on the weather and people around us while telling our story. BUT we DO NOT talk about the effects of the weather.

Past Perfect Continues is used when we describe some past situation and we want to comment on the effects of some actions.

Ex: The sun was still shining when we left the cinema. (We simply describe the weather around us at the time of leaving the cinema).

Ex: The sun had been shining when we were at the cinema. The ground got dry. (The ground had been wet before they went to the cinema. After their film, it was dry. It was the effect of the shining sun).

 
OTHER EXAMPLE SENTENCES:

We had been studying a lot before the test.

When we arrived, the house smelled lovely. Mum had been baking a chocolate cake.

When I came back home, the house was in a mess. The children had been playing with the animals.

 

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