Main uses

1. The past perfect continuous bears the same relation to the past perfect as the present perfect continuous bears to the present perfect:

Bill had been saving since Christmas to buy a new bike.

Mary was out of breath; she had been running.

Note:

When the action began before the time of speaking in the past, and continued up to that time, or stopped just before it, we can often use either form:

It was now six and he was tired because he had worked since dawn

It was now six and he was tired because he had been working since dawn.

Sometimes the difference between them is simply one of the emphasis.

I had been working hard, so I felt that I deserved a holiday (the activity is emphasized)

I had worked hard until the report was not finished. (the result is emphasized)

2. The past perfect progressive forms are often used to show that an action is (or was) frequently repeated:

Jenny was annoyed Jim had been phoning her every night for a whole week

Tom looked awful. He had been drinking a lot for the last two weeks.

If we mention the number of times that we have done an action, we do not use the past perfect continuous:

He had been trying to get her on the phone.

He had tried five times to get her on the phone.

3. There is a difference between a single action in the simple past perfect and an action in the past perfect continuous:

By six o'clock he had repaired the engine. (This job had been completed.)

He had been repairing the engine - tells us how he had spent the previous hour/half hour etc. It does not tell us whether or not the job was completed.

An action in the past perfect may occur shortly before the time of speaking, but there could be quite a long interval between them:

He had been painting the door. (The paint was probably still wet.)

But

He had painted the door. (Perhaps recently, perhaps some time ago.)

Practice

Ex. 17 Explain the use of the Past Perfect Continuous in the following sentences

l. When I rang up your father, he said that people had been inquiring about you all day. 2. Pat's poodle now appeared, coming out of the stream where it had been cooling. 8. They had been driving for half an hour before Blair spoke. 4. He went to the theatre to see the play which had been running for a week. 5. The rain that had been threatening now began to fall gently. 6. Philip came into the room. He had been wandering about, not quite belonging anywhere. 7. When she came there to act as governess, the children had been running wild for a year. 8.Alice threw down the book she had been holding since she came into the room.

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Ex. 11 Use the required past forms in the following sentences which pattern actions related to the same past moment	\|	Ex. 18 Explain the use of Past Perfect Continuous and Past Perfect in the following sentences

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