The paradigm of the verb in the past perfect continuous

Affirmative			Interrogative
I He (she, it) We You They	had been speaking	Had	I he (she, it) we you they	been speaking?

Negative
I He (she, it) We You They	had not (hadn’t) been speaking

Negative –interrogative

a) Had

I he (she, it) we you they

not been speaking?

b) Hadn’t

I he (she, it) we you they

been speaking?

The past perfect continuous denotes an action which began before a given moment in the past, continued for a certain period of time up to that moment and possibly still continued at that past moment.

The moment of time in the past before which the action begins is usually indicated by other past actions in the past indefinite or, rather rarely, by the past continuous. Sometimes it is indicated directly by adverbials (by that time, by the 1st of August, etc.).

The past perfect continuous is used with actional verbs to denote:

1. Actions in progress that began before a certain moment of time in the past and continued up to that moment, but not into it. As a rule no indications of time are present: the exact time of the beginning of the action is more or less clear from the situation, while the end, closely precedes the given moment of past time (the exclusive past perfect continuous).

Dick, who had been reading aloud Pit’s letter, suddenly stopped.

I had been feeling very tired, but now I grew alert.

They had been walking rapidly and now they were approaching the spot.

Her eyes were red. I saw she had been crying.

2. Actions in progress that began before a certain moment of time in the past and continued into it. In this case either the starting point of the action or its duration is indicated (the inclusive past perfect continuous).

Ever since his return he had been losing strength and flesh.

She had been acting for a long time without a rest and she badly needed one.

Even now he could not stop, though he had been running all the way from the village.

The past perfect continuous is usually rendered in Russian by the past tense, imperfective.

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