1. Grammar – Unit 16 Past Perfect Continuous (I had been doing)
Hello and welcome to this Grammar session on Past Perfect Continuous tense.

2. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A - action which started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
Example Set B - action that occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C - comparison between present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set D - comparison between past continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set E - verbs that are not normally used in continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

3. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
Example Set B for the action that occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set D for comparison between past continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

4. Past Perfect Continuous
Learning Objectives
Past Perfect continuous ( I had been doing)
Is used for action that started and continued up until another time
Action that occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Comparison between Present Perfect continuous and Past Perfect Continuous.
Comparison between Past Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous.
Verbs that are not used in the continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

5. Past Perfect Continuous
Example Set A - The action that occurred in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
Study this example situation:
Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The
sun was shining, but the ground was very wet.
It had been raining.
It was not raining when I looked out of the window; The sun was shining. But it had been raining before.
Past Perfect Continuous

6. Past Perfect Continuous
Continue..
Had been –ing is the past perfect continuous:
I/we/you/they
He/she/it
had
(= I’d etc.)
(= he’d etc.)
been
Doing working
Playing etc.
Past Perfect Continuous

7. Past Perfect Continuous
Continue..
Some more examples:
When the boys came into the house, their clothes were dirty, their hair
was untidy and one of them had a black eye. They’d been fighting.
I was very tired, when I got home. I’d been working hard all day.
When I went to Madrid a few years ago, I stayed with a friend of mine.
She’d been living there only a short time but knew the city very well.
Past Perfect Continuous

8. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.
Example Set B for the action that occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between present perfect continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set D for comparison between past continuous and past perfect continuous.
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

9. Past Perfect Continuous
Example Set B
You can say that something had been happening for a period of time
before something else happened:
We’d been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain heavily.
George went to the doctor last Friday. He hadn’t been feeling well for some time.
Past Perfect Continuous

10. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued up until something happened in the past,
Example Set B for the action which occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between Present perfect continuous and Past perfect continuous.
Example Set D for comparison between Past continuous and Past perfect continuous
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in the continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

11. Past Perfect Continuous
Example Set C
Compare have been –ing (present perfect continuous) and had been –ing (past perfect continuous):
Present perfect continuous
past perfect continuous
I have been -ing
I had been -ing
past
now
past
now
I hope the bus comes soon. I’ve been
At last the bus came. I’d been waiting
waiting for 20 minutes. (before now)
for 20 minutes. before the bus came)
James is out of breath. He has been
James was out of breath. He had been
running.
running.
Past Perfect Continuous

12. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued
up until something
Example Set B for the action that occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between Past perfect continuous and
Past perfect continuous
Example Set D for comparison between Past continuous and Past perfect continuous.
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in the continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

13. Past Perfect Continuous
Example Set D
Compare was –ing (past continuous) and had been –ing:
It wasn’t raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it
had been raining, so the ground was wet.
Cathy was sitting in an armchair resting. She was tired because she’d been working very hard.
Past Perfect Continuous

14. Past Perfect Continuous
Agenda
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued up until something happened in the past,
Example Set B for the action which occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between Present perfect continuous and Past perfect continuous
Example Set D for comparison between Past continuous and Past perfect continuous.
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in the continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous

15. Example Set E – Verbs that are normally not used in the continuous
Some verbs (for example, know and like) are not normally used in the
continuous:
We were good friends. We had known each other for years.
(not had been knowing)
Past Perfect Continuous

16. Past Perfect Continuous
Summary
Learning Objectives
Example Set A for the action which started in the past and continued up until something happened in the past,
Example Set B for the action which occurred for a period of time before something else happened.
Example Set C for comparison between Present perfect continuous and Past perfect continuous
Example Set D for comparison between Past continuous and Past perfect continuous.
Example Set E for the verbs that are not normally used in the continuous.
Past Perfect Continuous