Past perfect continuous
How long an activity had been going on before a moment in the past: I'd been waiting for an hour when he arrived.
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The past perfect continuous describes an activity that was in progress up to a moment in the past. It is the present perfect continuous moved one step back: I've been waiting for an hour (up to now) becomes I'd been waiting for an hour (up to then). The form is had been + the verb with -ing.
Form: had been + -ing
The form is the same for every person. The short form of had is 'd, and the negative is hadn't been.
Example | |
|---|---|
+ | She had been working. / She'd been working. |
− | She hadn't been working. |
? | Had she been working? |
Short answers | Yes, she had. No, she hadn't. |
- We'd been driving for three hours when we stopped for coffee.
- He hadn't been feeling well, so he went home early.
- How long had you been living there when you met Paul?
- Incorrect: They had been wait since the morning.
- Correct: They had been waiting since the morning.
- Incorrect: She had being working there for a year.
- Correct: She had been working there for a year.The second part is always been, never being.
How long up to a past moment
Use it to say how long an activity had been in progress when something else happened. For, since and how long are common here, as with the present perfect continuous.
- I'd been waiting for an hour when he finally arrived.
- When the company closed, Greta had been working there since 2010.
- They had been arguing about the budget for weeks before they reached an agreement.
- Incorrect: I waited for an hour when he finally arrived.
- Correct: I'd been waiting for an hour when he finally arrived.The waiting came before his arrival and lasted up to it. The past simple would put the hour of waiting after he arrived.
The cause of a past situation
Use it for an activity that had recently stopped and explained what someone saw or felt at that past moment.
- The office smelt of paint. Someone had been decorating.
- Paul's hands were dirty because he had been repairing his bike.
- I could tell from the kitchen that someone had been cooking.
- She had been working all night, and her eyes were red.
Past continuous or past perfect continuous
The past continuous says what was in progress at a past moment. The past perfect continuous looks back from that moment and says how long the activity had lasted, or what had been going on just before.
- When I got home, the children were watching a film.
(At that moment.)
- When I got home, the children had been watching films for five hours.
(Up to that moment.)
- Incorrect: When the bus finally came, we were waiting for forty minutes.
- Correct: When the bus finally came, we had been waiting for forty minutes.With for + a period up to a past moment, use had been + -ing, not was + -ing.
Past perfect simple or continuous
The difference is the same as between I've done and I've been doing. The simple form gives a completed action or a number; the continuous gives the activity and its length.
Past perfect simple | Past perfect continuous |
|---|---|
a completed action, a result | an activity, perhaps unfinished |
how many, how much, how many times | how long |
By noon she had written four reports. | By noon she had been writing for five hours. |
- When I arrived, Ivan had cleaned the flat.
(It was clean. The job was finished.)
- When I arrived, Ivan had been cleaning the flat.
(He was tired and there was a bucket in the hall. Perhaps he hadn't finished.)
- Incorrect: By lunchtime I had been making twelve phone calls.
- Correct: By lunchtime I had made twelve phone calls.A number counts finished actions, so use the simple form.
State verbs: simple only
Verbs that describe states (be, know, have meaning "own", like, want, believe, understand) don't normally take the continuous. Use the past perfect simple, even with for and since.
- We had known each other for years before we started working together.
- They had had the house since the 1990s.
- Incorrect: I had been knowing him for a long time when he told me.
- Correct: I had known him for a long time when he told me.
In a story
In a story told in the past, this form gives the background that reaches back before the main events.
- Greta sat down and closed her eyes. She had been travelling since six that morning, and she hadn't eaten all day.
It is also used in sentences with by the time and before, in the same way as the past perfect simple.
- She had been looking for a job for months before she found this one.
- Incorrect: By the time I left the firm, I have been working there for twelve years.
- Correct: By the time I left the firm, I had been working there for twelve years.The whole sentence is in the past, so have changes to had.