Образование Past Perfect Continuous Утвердительные предложения:

I had been playing	We had been playing
You had been playing	You had been playing
He / she / it had been playing	They had been playing

Для того, чтобы поставить глагол в форму времени Past Perfect Continuous, требуется вспомогательный глагол to be во времени Past Perfect и причастие настоящего времени (форма V-ing) смыслового глагола.

To be во времени Past Perfect имеет единственную форму had been.

Причастие настоящего времени (Participle I) можно получить, прибавив к начальной форме значимого глагола окончание - ing: jump – jumping, live – living

Вопросительные предложения:

Had I been playing?	Had we been playing?
Had you been playing?	Had you been playing?
Had he / she / been playing?	Had they been playing?

В вопросительном предложении вспомогательный глагол had выносится на место перед подлежащим, а остальная часть сказуемого располагается после него:

I saw many puddles. Had it been raining? Я видел много луж. Шел дождь?

Отрицательные предложения:

I had not been playing	We had not been playing
You had not been playing	You had not been playing
He / she / it had not been playing	They had not been playing

В отрицательных предложениях за вспомогательным глаголом had следует отрицательная частица not:

Of course he did not want to sleep! He had not been working like a horse all the week. Разумеется, ему не хотелось спать! Он-то не работал как вол всю неделю.

Случаи употребления Past Perfect Continuous:

• Действие, которое началось в прошлом, продолжалось в течение некоторого времени и закончилось непосредственно перед определенным моментом в прошлом:

We had been working hard and managed to finish the project in time. Мы упорно работали и смогли завершить проект вовремя.

• Действие, которое началось в прошлом, продолжалось в течение некоторого времени и все еще продолжалось в определенный момент в прошлом:

Her voice started to tremble. I did not realize what a hard time she had been having. Ее голос задрожал. Я и не представлял, как тяжело ей приходилось.

1. Put the verb in brackets into the Past Perfect Continuous.

1. We … (to climb) for six hours when at last we reached the summit of the mountain. 2. Clouds … (to gather) all day and now rain came down in sheets. 3. I slowly released a breath and only then realized that I … (to hold) it for some time. 4. Outside everything was in deep snow. It … (to snow) hard all night. 5. Julia … (to stand) at the bus stop for twenty minutes when John drove up and got out of the car. 6. We ….. (to sleep) for 12 hours when he woke us up. 7. They ….. (to wait) at the station for 90 minutes when the train finally arrived. 8. We ….. (to look for) her ring for two hours and then we found it in the bathroom. 9. I ….. (not/to walk) for a long time, when it suddenly began to rain. 10. How long ….. (to learn/she) English before she went to London? 11. Frank Sinatra caught the flu because he ….. (to sing) in the rain too long. 12. He ….. (to drive) less than an hour when he ran out of petrol. 13. They were very tired in the evening because they ….. (to dig) on the farm all day. 14. I ….. (not/to work) all day, so I wasn’t tired and went to the disco at night. 15. They ….. (to cycle) all day so their legs were sore in the evening.