Esl Lesson on Past Simple Past Perfect Past Continuous

Past perfect continuous

What is the past perfect continuous tense?

The past perfect continuous tense (sometimes called the past perfect progressive) is an English tense that expresses ongoing actions in the past. The actions have a defined ending.   The actions also go before or precede another event in the past.  The past perfect continuous tense emphasizes that the continuous event had a specific duration and/or a defined ending.

Past Perfect
subject + had +
past participle

Past Perfect
Statements

1. I had run the course once before.
2. She had cooked the meal once before then.
3. We had practiced before then.
4. They had dated before then.

Past Continuous
subject + (past) to be +
present participle

Past Continuous
Statements

1. I was running when you called.
2. She was cooking when you called.
3. We were practicing when you called.
4. They were dating at that time.

Past Perfect Continuous
subject + had been +
present participle

Past Perfect Continuous Statements

1. I had been running for two hours.
2. She had been cooking all day.
3. We had been practicing for a month.
4. They had been dating since January.

When is the past perfect continuous tense used?

The past perfect continuous tense can be used in a single clause statement to show the duration of a past event in relation to another past event.

Past Perfect Continuous(Event 1)

1. I had been helping Alison every weekday.
2. He had been working on his car for an hour.
3. We had been swimming for 20 minutes.

Past Simple Statement(Event 2)

1.  My schedule changed.
2.  The fire started.
3. The lifeguard waved the red flag.

The past perfect continuous tense is frequently used in complex sentences as a time reference for another event.

Complex sentence with subordinating conjunction

1. I had been helping Alison every weekday before my schedule changed.
2. He had been working on his car in the hour just before the fire started.
3. We had been swimming for 20 minutes when the lifeguard waved the red flag.

 What are examples of negative past perfect continuous negative statements?

Negative statements in the past perfect continuous t tense are formed in the following manner:
Subject + had + not + been + present participle of main verb

Past Perfect Continuous Statement

1. I had been running for three hours.
2. You had been goingthere for two years.
3.  He had been working at the store for 20 years.
4.  She had been playing in the backyard 5 minutes.
5.  It had been raining at my house for 2 hours.
6.  We had been running late.
7.  They had been studying before he arrived.

Past Perfect Continuous Negative Statement

1. I had not been running for three hours.
2. You had not been goingthere for two years.
3.  He had not been working at the store for 20 years.
4.  She hadn't been playing in the backyard 5 minutes.
5.  It hadn't been raining at my house for 2 hours.
6.  We had not been running late.
7.  They had not been studying before he arrived.

What are examples of past continuous questions?

Past continuous questions are formed in the following manner:
Had + subject + been + present participle of main verb.

Past Perfect Continuous Question

1. Had you been doing your exercises before the accident?
2. Had Ted been working at the store long before he was fired?
3. Had she been studying at the library before then?
4. Had it been snowing for long when you left to go sledding?
5. Had they been going there for long?

Past Perfect Continuous Statement

1. Yes, I had been doing my exercises every day.
2. Yes,  he had been working at the store since 2002.
3. Yes, she had been studying at the library every day before then.
4. Yes, it had been snowing for two hours before we left to go sledding.
5. Yes, they had been going there for a long while.

What are good examples of the past perfect continuous tense?

More Examples of the Past Perfect Continuous tense.

1. Tom awoke to a ringing phone.  /  He had been sleeping for only an hour.
2. Yesterday they learned the season was canceled.  /  They had been practicing for about six weeks.
3. My phone died.  /   I had been talking for only 20 minutes.
4. My mother made me do extra chores last night.  /  I had not been helping around the house.
5. The roof started to leak.   /  It hadn't even been raining five minutes.
6. Had itbeen snowing long when you left to go sledding?
7. Had theybeen goingthere for long?

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Source: https://basicesl.com/tenses/past-perfect-continuous/

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