![]() ![]() The main reason that we use the past perfect continuous tense, also called the past perfect progressive tense, is to indicate that an action:įor example, the sentence I had been working as a lawyer until I decided to get a degree in psychology says that I began working as a lawyer sometime ago, continued to work as one for a while, and then stopped working as one once I earned a degree (which also happened in the past). There are several common ways to use the past perfect continuous tense. The dogs had been barking constantly until their owner fed them.īefore perfecting this tense, you might want a review on the present continuous tense first.She had been eating meat for years before she became a vegetarian.I had been taking a nap when the earthquake rocked my house.The following sentences all contain examples of verbs in the past perfect continuous tense: Putting it all together, the past perfect continuous tense typically refers to an action that happened in the past, continued for a period of time, and then completely ended in the past. Continuous: Continuous verb tenses refer to actions/states that continue(d) over a period of time or are/were in progress.Perfect: Generally speaking, perfect verb tenses refer to completed actions.Past: This verb tense refers to an action/state that happened before now.If we examine the name of this verb tense, we can see that it is telling us how to use it: The past perfect continuous tense tells us that an action occurred in the past, continued for a while, and then ended before the present time. Generally speaking, the tense of the verb tells you when in time an action or state occurs. In English, we have 12 different types of verb tenses to describe all of the events that happen. We use words called verbs to refer to actions or states of being. ![]() This story is admittedly pretty silly, but it also has several examples of a neat bit of grammar: the past perfect continuous tense. Luckily, the misunderstanding was solved before anyone engaged in a fight they had been hoping to avoid anyway. As it turned out, the ninjas were actually a troupe of actors who had been looking for someone to direct them to the theatre. Two teenagers had been cleaning their garage for a while when suddenly a group of ninjas appeared! The teens were surprised, but they had been watching action movies for years, so they were prepared to do battle. verbs expressing perception, remembrance, preference, knowledge (mean, know, believe, forget, understand, appreciate, etc.Something amazing happened the other day.verbs expressing possession (own, possess, etc.).verbs expressing feelings and emotions (love, hate, fear, hate, etc.).verbs of the senses (see, hear, feel, etc.).Verbs which are not normally used in the continuous are NOTE: The continuous occurs only with verbs that indicate duration and describe activities that are deliberate. for a seemingly continuous and repeated action without mentioning the number of times it has been done (Elisa had been ringing him since breakfast.).for an action which has started in the past, gone on up to the moment of speaking and which has just finished or which possibly continues past it (It was now ten and I was really fed up because I had been waiting for two hours already.).for an action which is uncompleted and which has just finished or which possibly continues past the time of speaking. (I had been washing the car.) (It is clear I was just washing the car but it is unclear whether I have completed it.).to indicate the sequence of events in the past: we use the Past Perfect (had seen) to indicate that this action happened earlier than the Simple Past (told) (I told him yesterday I had seen him on the train the day before.).for a period which started in the past and which was continuing until a past point of reference or has only just finished (I had been ill for a week when the antibiotics finally kicked in.). ![]()
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