Past Perfect Continuous

Pattern: When I looked out through the window, I saw that the ground was still wet, as it had been raining hard the whole night.

a) The Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used to denote an action, that had been happening for a certain period of time before something else happened.

Markers: for 5 hours (some time, years…), for a long time …

Example: I had been waiting for a bus for twenty minutes before the bus came at last.

b) Using the structure we want to underline that the action took some time and it may have been unfinished, by the time another action started.

Example: He had been painting the walls for 3 hours by the time Helen came to help him. After a short rest, they decided to continue their work.

The forms of the Past Perfect Continuous

affirmative	Sub had been Ving .	Val had been reading the book for 2 hours before Bill rang her up.
negative	Sub had not been Ving. (Sub hadn’t been Ving)	Val had not (hadn’t) been reading the book for 2 hours before Bill rang her up.
interrogative	Had Sub been Ving?	Had Val been reading the book for 2 hours before Bill rang her up? Yes, she had. No, she hadn’t.

Exercise 1. Make up interrogative and negative variants of the sentences:

Model: He had been sitting here for 40 minutes when the telephone rang. –

Had he been sitting here for 40 minutes when the telephone rang?

He had not been sitting here for 40 minutes when the telephone rang.

1. I had been trying to get him on the phone the whole day

2. At eight in the morning we had been driving for six hours.

3. It was clear that they had been gossiping again.

4. He had probably been brooding over it day and night – he was that sort.

5. We had been walking in the rain for many hours when we saw a house.

6. She had been sitting there for half an hour before it started raining.

7. He had been looking for his glasses for an hour before he realized he had them in his pocket.

8. He had been waiting for her for a long time before she came.

9. Tom had been doing his homework for an hour when his friend came to see him.

Exercise 2.

Read the statements and explain the situation, using the prompts, given in the brackets.

Model: Ted’s hands were aching (to dig the soil/ since early morning). – Ted’s hands were aching, as he had been digging the ground since early morning.

1. You were hardly breathing. (to run very fast/ a ling time)

2. His eyes were red and he felt sleepy (to work on the computer/ eight hours/already).

3. The children were rather tired and excited (to play football/ all day long)

4. There was nobody in the room, but it was full of smoke (to discuss acute problems/ to smoke/ 3 hours)

5. His clothes and face were dirty (to clear the old attic/ the whole morning)

6. Stephanie could answer any question, concerning the Russian history (to read the material/ during the summer holidays)

7. When I got home, mike was sitting in front of the TV set. He had just turned it off. (he/ to watch/ a science-fiction/ 3 hours)

Exercise 3. Disagree with the explanations, given to the following statements and give your own versions.

Model: When Vanessa returned home, she was trembling with cold, as she had been waiting for her boy-friend for 40 minutes. – When Vanessa returned home she was trembling with cold. In fact, she hadn’t been waiting for her boy-friend for 40 minutes, but she had been walking from the bus station to the house on foot in such frosty weather.

1. The friends returned from the tennis-court too quickly as they had been playing for an hour when Jack got a very important call from his work and they had to go home.

2. Fill decided to drop into a café. He had been working for 5 hours and felt as hungry as a hunter.

3. Helen was late for the date at the restaurant. She had been sitting in the lift, stuck between the floors in her house.

4. Mr. Osmond was known as the most experienced teacher in our school, as he had been teaching his subject for 35 years.

5. Norman’s clothes were all covered with paint. He had been painting the ceiling all day long.

6. Little bobby was very tired, having returned from the park.

7. Cecil understood that she needed some rest as she couldn’t memorize anything she was reading at the moment. She had been reading it for 3 hours already.

Exercise 4. Ask as many questions to the sentences as it is possible:

1. Jennifer had been going shopping for 4 hours before she found an evening gown to her liking.

2. Andy had been dusting the furniture for some time until he got down to mopping the floor.

3. In the morning Hanky could hardly open the door, because it had been snowing the whole night.

4. Jake and Lucy had been dating for 2 months before they got married.

5. Steven had been cooking a festive dinner for his housewarming party all day before the quests came.

6. The students had been making a report on history the whole day until the library closed.

7. Eddy had been looking for the material for his course work for a long time before he found it at last.

Exercise 5. Use the verbs given in brackets in the Past Indefinite, the Past Perfect, the Past Perfect Continuous.

1. He (to work) there some time when the dreadful accident (to happen).

2. He told us they (to love) in his district since they had left Paris.

3. The poor woman complained she (not to meet) her elder son for a long time. She (to live) in the huge castle alone for some years.

4. The waiter assured me that the personnel (to look for) my lost watch everywhere.

5. They (to walk) in the garden or an hour, when the storm broke out.

6. When we (to return) home, we (to find), that somebody (to break) into the garage and (to steal) the car.

7. By the time mother (to come) the twins already (to sleep) for two hours.

8. When he (to come) back to England from India, where he (to spend) 4 years, he (to learn), that his old mother (to die) and his sister (to leave) England and (to go) to America.

9. When they (to open) the safe, they (to find) that somebody already (to take) all the important documents.