Past Perfect continuous tense
It is used to express a continued or ongoing action that started in
past and continued until sometime in past. (Remember, an ongoing action in past
which continued till some time in past) There will be a time reference, such as
“since 1980, for three hours etc” from which the action had started. A sense of
time reference is found in these sentences which shows that action had started
in past and continued till some time in past.
Such time reference or sense of reference is the identity of Present
perfect continuous tense because it tells that action has started from a
particular time in past or for some time period. For example, “He had been
studying in this school since 2005”, so the it means that he had started his
education in this school in 2005 and he studied in this school till sometime in
past.
Note: If there is not time reference or sense of time reference, then
it is not Past perfect continuous tense because there is no hint about the time
of action when it started in past or continued for some time period, so it
seems just an ongoing action in past which resembles “past Continuous tense”.
So the reference of time differentiates between Past perfect continuous tense
and past continuous tense.
Rules:
An auxiliary verb “had been” is used in sentence. 1st form of
verb (base verb) +ing (present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
“Since” or “for” is used before the “time reference” in sentence. If the time
reference is exactly known such as 1995, 4 O’clock then “since” is used before
the time in sentence. If the time reference is not exactly known such as three
hours, six years, four days, then “for” is used before the time in sentence.
Time reference such as 3 hours or 5 days is not exactly known because we don’t
know that about which three hours a day is told in sentence or about which 5
days in a month is told in sentence. While the 1995 is exactly known time.
Structure of sentence.
Positive Sentence.
• Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (Present participle) + Object +
Time reference
• Subject + had been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object +
time reference
Examples.
I had been waiting for him
for one hour.
She had been playing chess
since 7 O’clock.
Negative Sentence.
• Subject +”Not” between the Auxiliary verbs + main verb (present
participle) + Object + Time reference
• Subject + had not been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) +
object + time reference
To make negative sentence, the word “not” is added inside auxiliary
verb, so it becomes “had not been”.
Examples.
I had not been waiting
for him for one hour.
She had not been playing
chess since 7 O’clock.
Interrogative Sentence.
• Auxiliary verb+ Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (present
participle) + object + time reference
• Had + Subject + been + (1st
form of verb or base verb+ing) + object + time reference
Interrogative sentence starts with auxiliary verb “had” and auxiliary
verb “been” is used after subject in sentence.
Examples.
Had I been waiting for
him for one hour?
Had she been playing chess 7 O’clock?
Had she been playing chess 7 O’clock?