Past Perfect Continous Tense

Past Perfect Progressive tense is used to describe an ongoing action that started in past and continued for some time in past. It expresses the continued nature of an action that started and stopped at some point in the past. The sentence includes a 'time-reference' to show that when the action started in past or for how long the action was continued in past.

For time-reference of the action, two specific words 'since' and 'for' are used in the sentence. The word 'since' is used if the exact starting time of the action is known or intended to be shown in the sentence. The word 'for' is used to express the amount of time for which the action was continued.

Structure of the Sentence:
Main verb: Present Participle (base form verb+ing)
Auxiliary verbs: Had Been

Positive Sentences:

• Subject + Auxiliary verb + Main verb + Object + Time-reference
• Subject + Had been + Present Participle (base form of verb + ing) + Object + Time_reference

Examples:

1. She had been watching the movie for two hours.
2. They were playing football since 10 O'clock.
3. He had been working for a Newspaper for five years.
4. I had been applying for jobs since December 2-12.
5. She had been waiting for you since Wednesday.

Negative Sentences:

• Subject + Auxiliary verb + Main verb + Object + Time-reference
• Subject + Had not been + Present Participle + Object + Time_reference

Examples:

1. They had not been doing their work since 2003.
2. He had not been drinking milk for five months.
3. She had not been trying to get a job since 2002.
4. I had not been listening to music since Thursday.
5. He had not been playing chess since 3 O'clock?

Interrogative Sentences:

• Had + Subject + Been + Present Participle + Object + Time-reference

Examples:

1. Had the kid been watching cartoon for eight days?
2. Had the baby been crying for one hour?
3. Had she been singing songs since 8 O'clock?
4. Had he been working in a hospital since 2001?
5. Had they been playing football for five hours?