Past perfect continuous: 3 essential uses and easy examples

Past perfect continuous=Past perfect progressive

Past perfect continuous tense

Example

My father had been working for this multinational company for 20 years.

Past perfect continuous form

subject + had been + verb + ing

Past perfect progressive uses

1. We use past perfect progressive to show that an action started in the past and continued up until another action took place.

Examples:

• They had been playing football when George broke his leg.
• We had been watching a movie when the light went out.

2. Past perfect continuous tense is used to explain why an action or feeling occurred.

Examples:

• I was very tired. I had been revising for the exam for more than four hours.
• He put on weight because he had been overeating.

3. We use past perfect progressive to talk about the duration of an activity which continued up to a specified point in the past.

Examples:

• I had been learning Chinese for 6 months before I moved to Beijing.
• My dad had been working for 30 years when he retired.

You might be interested in the essential uses of the Past Perfect Simple.

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