To refer to actions which had been in progress in the past.
Generally, those actions which had been in progress (and which are written in Past Perfect Continuous), were interrupted by another action (which is written in Past Simple).
This tense is used to talk about situations which were in progress during a period of time, so we generally use these prepositions
For - Since.
Auxiliary "Had".
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Subject + Had + Been + Verb With -Ing at The End + the rest of the sentence.
In order to write affirmative sentences, we write the auxiliary "Had" after the subject and followed by the word "Been". Then, we write the main verb with the -Ing form at the end of it (that indicates that the action was in progress).
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Examples
I had been studying for hours when I fell asleep.
(The action in progress "I had been studying for hours" was interrupted when he fell asleep, written in the Past Tense).
They had been waiting for several minutes when the bus appeared.
Tom bought the house that he had been dreaming about since he was a child.
Subject + Had Not + Been + Main Verb with Ing in the End + the rest of the sentence.
The structure in the negative form is the same as in the Affirmative one. Add "Not" to the auxiliary verb, so it is written
Had Not (Hadn't).
Had + Subject + Been + Verb with Ing in the End + the rest of the sentence?
In the interrogative form, the auxiliary "Had" is written before the subject.
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Answer
Correct Answer
The baby _ _ _ _ _ when his mother arrived.
had be crying
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had been crying
Well done!
has been crying
Wrong answer
Tina _ _ _ _ _ watching TV.
hadn't been
Good!
hadn't watched
Keep trying
had to be
Try again
_ _ _ _ _ from California?
She had been driving
Wrong answer
Had she been driving
You did it!
Had she been drive
Keep trying
My uncle _ _ _ _ _ here for ages!
had not to be singing
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had not been sing
Wrong answer
had not been singing
Great!
They _ _ _ _ _ before.
had been playing
Cool!
had playing
Keep trying
had been play
Try again
It's used to talk about actions in progress in the Past.
True
You did it!
False
Wrong answer
The action in Past Perfect Continuous is generally interrupted by another action in Present.
True
Try again
False
That´s it!
We generally use prepositions like FOR and SINCE.
True
Correct answer!
False
Try again
The main verb is always conjugated in the Participle form.
True
Keep trying
False
Well done!
When she arrived, the boys _ _ _ _ _ the bedroom.
had cleaning
Wrong answer
had been cleaning
Good!
Did
Keep trying
I _ _ _ _ _ when it became dark.
hadn't been running
Great!
didn't have running
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hadn't been run
Wrong answer
_ _ _ _ _ they been studying before the test?
Have
Keep trying
Had
Cool!
Did
Try again
Susan had been _ _ _ _ _ for hours.
cooked
Wrong answer
cook
Keep trying
cooking
You did it!
The action in Past Perfect Continuous is generally interrupted by an action in the Past.
True
That´s it!
False
Try again
The main verb always ends with the –ING form.
True
Correct answer!
False
Keep trying