Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Past Perfect Continuous is used in a similar way to Past Perfect tense, but we use it to put more emphasis on the length of time the action was happening for.
To form the Past Perfect Continuous, we use Verb To Have (had) followed by Verb To Be (been), and the main verb will be past participle (verb-ing).
Examples: I had been waiting…, She had been driving…, They had been working…
You can contract it by blending the subject and verb to have (had).
Examples: I’d been waiting…, She’d been driving…, They’d been working…
Using the Present Perfect Continuous Tense
We can use the Present Perfect Continuous tense in a few different occasions. It will always be part of at least 2 clause sentence, and the other clause will usually be in Past Simple.
Use to tell of a past action that happen up until another past action
We use the it to talk about a past action that happened for a length of time up until another past action happened.
The Present Perfect Continuous clause will explain how long the action was going on for and will usually have a time reference (for one hour, all day) to explain the time. The other clause of the past action will be Past Simple.
She had been driving for six hours before she finally got here.
We had been living in Sydney for six months before we went to the beach.
He‘d been walking all day when he finally finished the marathon.
To show the result of an action that was happening for a long period of time
We can use Present Perfect Continuous to show the result of an action that was happening for a relatively long period of time. Again, the other clause (the result) will be the Past Simple tense.
The dog had been playing on the beach so it needed a bath.
The walkway was muddy because it had been raining.
They were tired because they‘d been running all day.