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.
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B1-B2 Grammar : Past Perfect Continuous (I Had Been Doing)
Choose the correct word.