past perfect continuous tense Archives | English Grammar & Vocabulary

In this article various forms of Past Perfect Continuous Tense examples are given to help understand different ways in which the tense is used in real life English communication. Also in the end some sentences are given for your practice.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Mary had been working as a nun for 30 years when she passed away in 2015. This shows an action that started in the past and continued for a period of time until some action happened in the past. Past perfect continuous tense, like the past perfect, is used in combination with the simple past tense.

Structure: Subject + Had been + Verb 1 (V1) + Ing + Object

Rahul had been waiting for the bus for half an hour when his friend picked him up.
She had been watching the movie for two hours.
The previous king had been alive when his heir became the new king.
During this time last year, it had been raining for three days continuously.
When I went to college, the lecture had been going on for half an hour already.

Rule: This tense is also used for expressing an action in the past which is repeated many times. For example,

She had been trying to contact you.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense Examples

Like every tense, the past perfect continuous also has four forms through which it can be expressed. The four are as follows:

Positive : Subject + Had been + Verb 1 (V1) + Ing + Object

Positive Interrogative : Had +Subject + been + V1 + ing + Object?

Negative: Subject + Had not been + Verb 1 (V1) + Ing + Object

Negative Interrogative : Had +Subject + not been + V1 + ing + Object?

Look at the following example

She had been trying to contact you – the four forms of the above example can be written as

Positive : She had been trying to contact you.
Positive Interrogative : Had she been trying to contact you?
Negative: She had not been trying to contact you.
Negative Interrogative : Had she not been trying to contact you?

Exercise: Let us take some more examples and write them in all the four forms.

Had she not been aspiring to get a job?
I had not been planning this meeting with you.
She had been writing her first novel when she turned 10.

For remaining Tenses, Click here

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Past Tense is used in the sentences that denote an action that has already happened in the past. The four kinds of tenses that are present in this are as follows:

Simple Past Tense

Structure: Subject + Verb 2 (V2) + Object

This tense is used to express the following:

To describe an action that took place at any specific point in the past.
- He spoke to me an hour ago.
- Kohli scored a century in the last match.
- Narendra Modi became PM of India in 2014.
- We watched a movie yesterday.
- Long ago, there lived a king.
Even though the adverb or the period of time is not mentioned in the sentence, past tense can be used simply to indicate that the action took place in the past.
- I watched Cricket at the stadium.
- Rahul didn’t sleep well.
- Federer won the match.

Past Continuous

Structure: Subject + Was/ Were + Verb 1 (V1) + ing + Object

Past continuous tense was expressed in sentences containing an action that was happening at some time in the past.

I was watching Soccer on TV last night.
He was working as a teacher during this time last year.
I was visiting London in May last year.

Past Perfect

Structure: Subject + Had + Verb 3 (V3) + Object

The past perfect tense describes an action completed at a certain period in the past.

I had met him in New York in 2005.
He had written a book when he was 10 years old.

When two past actions are mentioned in a single sentence, in order to distinguish both of them, the earlier action is described in the past perfect and the other action, in the simple past tense.

The train had already left by the time he reached the station.
The movie had already started by the time we entered the theatre.
Martin had called me before he came to my place.
I had deposited the money in the bank when Raj met me to borrow some.