A. Study this example situation:
Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining, but the ground was very wet.
It had been raining.
It was not raining when I looked out of the window.
The sun was shining. But it had been raining before.
had been -ing is used in the past perfect continuous
Some more examples:
- My hands were dirty because I’d been repairing my bike.
- Tom was tired when he got home. He’d been working hard all day.
- I went to Madrid a few years ago and stayed with a friend of mine. She hadn’t been living there very long, but she knew the city very well.
You can say that something had been happening before something else happened: We’d been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain heavily.
B. Compare have been -ing (present perfect continuous) and had been -ing (past perfect continuous):
| Present Continuous (I have been -ing) | Past Continuous (I had been -ing) |
| 1. I hope the bus comes soon. I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes. (before now) | 1. At last the bus came. I’d been waiting for 20 minutes. (before the bus came) |
| 2. James is out of breath. He’s been running. (= he has been...) | 2. James was out of breath. He’d been running. (= he had been...) |
C. Compare was -ing (past continuous) and had been -ing:
- It wasn’t raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it had been raining, so the ground was wet.
- Katherine was lying on the sofa. She was tired because she’d been working hard.
D. Some verbs (for example, know) are not normally used in continuous forms (be + -ing):
- We were good friends. We had known each other for years. (not had been knowing)
- A few years ago Lisa cut her hair really short. I was surprised because she’d always had long hair. (not she’d been having)
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Ready to elevate your teaching career?
Join thousands of certified educators worldwide who have transformed their careers with our internationally recognised teacher training programs.
.png)
Feedback
Total score is 2 out of 10 (25%)
B1-B2 Grammar : Past Perfect Continuous (I Had Been Doing)
Choose the correct word.