Past Perfect Continuous Tense

In our last lecture, we have discussed about the Past Perfect tense, which is the  second last branch of past tense. Now, we’ll discussion about the Past Perfect Continuous Tense, which’s the last small branch of past. I have already told you past is the second large branch of tenses tree and every large branch has four smallest branches as past, which names are,

1. Past indefinite tense
2. Past continuous tense
3. Past perfect tense
4. Past perfect continuous tense

Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

Past perfect continuous tense shows to the work, which started in the past and still continue another time in past. This tense has great link with Past continuous tense and Past perfect tense.

In past perfect continuous tense, we use “Had been” as a helping verb.

We use ”Ing” and “First form of verb in Past perfect continuous tense. We use “Since, For” like Present perfect continuous tense.

Use Of Since:

We use “Since” for exact time.

For example:

1. Date
2. Any year like “2000”

Use Of For:

We use “For” not exact time.

For example:

1. Two hours
2. Half hour
3. Ten minutes

 Structure Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

Subject + Helping verb (Had been) + Ing + First form of verb + Object

For example:

1. They had been playing football for two hours.
2. Sara had been searching about the Women role in society for half hour.
3. The students had been discussing on Karl Marx and Aristotle for twenty minutes.
4. They had been going to London since 12 February 2015.
5. He had been going to walk since morning.

Negative Sentences Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

In negative sentences, we use “Not” in the of  “Had been” e.g. Had not been.

 Structure Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense In Negative Sentences:

Subject + Helping verb (Had not been) + Ing + First form of verb + Object

For example:

1. Aliza had not been cooking food for 1 hour.
2. The child had not been crying for 5 minutes.
3. The students had not been talking relevant to Fashion for half hour.
4. He had not been working on this project since 1990.
5. He had not been going to walk since morning.

Interrogative Sentences Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

In interrogative sentences, we use “Subject” in the mid of “Had been” e.g. Had he been.

Structure Of Past Perfect Continuous Tense In Interrogative Sentences:

Had + Subject + been + ing + First form of verb + Object

For example:

1. Had Alex been playing football for 2 hours?
2. Had  he been washing the cloth since morning?
3. Had they been doing work on the project since 2000?
4. Had they been searching on top ten chicks fashion styles?
5. Had  Aliza been making a tea for 5 minutes?

Remember Always:

Past Perfect Continuous Tense:

In simple:

(He, She, It, Name, I, We, You, They) Had been.

In Negative:

(He, She, It, Name, I, We, You, They) Had not been.

In Interrogative:

Had (He, She, It, Name, I, We, You, They) been.

Test Your Intelligence:

True & False:

1. Had David been writing a book 1996?
2. Had Alex and David been cooking pizza for 5 hours?
3. Engels had been exercising for half hours.
4. Warid company had been working  2004.
5. Students had not been fighting for an hour.

Answer:

1. False
2. True
3. True
4. False
5. True