Past Perfect Tense vs Past Continuous Tense

​Past Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous

​The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb’s present participle (root + -ing): I/you/he/she/it/we/they had been doing

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Example: I had been doing my homework; they had been playing football​

​Past Perfect Continuous

The past continuous is made from the past tense of the verb be and the –ing form of a verb​: I/he/she/it was and you/we/they were

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Example: I was doing my homework; they were playing football​

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​Past Continuous

​What are they?

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Unlike the present perfect continuous, which indicates an action that began in the past and continued up to the present, the past perfect continuous is a verb tense that indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past, and also ended at a defined point in the past​.

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When, for, since, and before are words that you may see used alongside the past perfect continuous tense

​Past Perfect Continuous

• for something that happened before and after​ another action

• ​for something that happened before and after a specific time

• ​to show that something continued for some time

​Past Continuous

​When do we use them?

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• I had been working for the company for 5 years when I got the promotion

• She had been walking 3 miles a day before she broke her leg

• He had been banging on her door for 10 minutes before she let him in

• I was making dinner when my mum arrived

• ​It was 8 o'clock, we were watching a film

• ​They were shouting for no reason

​Examples

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past_perfect_continuous_positive.pdf (perfect-english-grammar.com)​

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Perfect-English-Grammar​

​Activities

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