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2.6 Past perfect continuous

Form: past perfect continuous

had + been + present participle (verb-ing)

The past perfect continuous (also called the past perfect progressive) is formed with had + been (the past participle form of be) + the present participle -ing form of the verb.

Affirmative

SubjectAuxiliaryVerb (present participle) 
I
You
He/She/It
We
You
They
had been waiting for hours by then.

Negative

SubjectAuxiliary 1notAuxiliary 2Verb (present participle) 
I
You
He/She/It
We
You
They
had not been waiting long.

The contracted form hadn't is often used instead of had not in spoken and in informal written language.

Interrogative

(Question word)Auxiliary 1SubjectAuxiliary 2Verb (present participle) 

How long

had

I
you
he/she/it
we
you
they

been

waiting

by then?

Past perfect continuous for continuous events in the past

The past perfect continuous tense is used to express that an action started before a point in time in the past and that it was still in progress or it had just stopped. This point can be implied or expressed with a time expression or a clause with a verb in the past simple tense:

It had been snowing all night.
By 2005, George had been living in Scotland for 20 years.
When I got to her house, she had been waiting for hours.