Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Which of these are the three main parts needed to form the past perfect continuous tense?

• had + been + verb-ing

• has + been + verb-ing

• was + verb-ing

• had + verb-ed

Answer explanation

The past perfect continuous tense is always formed with the auxiliary verbs 'had' and 'been', followed by the present participle (the '-ing' form of a verb).

Select the sentence that is written in the past perfect continuous tense.

• She was drawing a picture when I called.

• She has been drawing a picture all morning.

• She had been drawing a picture before I called.

• She had drawn a picture.

Answer explanation

This sentence correctly uses the 'had + been + verb-ing' structure to show an action (drawing) that was in progress before another past event (calling).

True or False: To make a past perfect continuous sentence negative, you add 'not' right after the word 'been'.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

To form a negative, 'not' is placed between 'had' and 'been' (had not been) or used in the contraction 'hadn't'.

Complete the sentence: My phone died because I _____ videos for hours.

• had been watching

• have been watching

• was watched

• had watched

Answer explanation

The past perfect continuous ('had been watching') is used to describe a continuous action (watching videos) that happened over a period of time and caused a later past event (the phone died).

Which question is formed correctly?

• You had been sleeping well?

• Been you sleeping well?

• Had you been sleeping well before the alarm rang?

• Did you been sleeping well?

Answer explanation

To form a question in the past perfect continuous tense, you invert the subject and 'had'. The correct structure is 'Had + subject + been + verb-ing...?'

True or False: The sentence 'By the time the pizza arrived, we had been waiting for over an hour' correctly uses a time marker.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

The phrase 'By the time the pizza arrived' is a time marker that sets a specific point in the past, showing the action 'had been waiting' was happening before it.

Complete the sentence: He was out of breath because he _____ up the stairs.

• had been runing

• had been running

• had be running

• was been running

Answer explanation

The correct spelling of the present participle of 'run' is 'running', with a double 'n'. The other options use incorrect spelling or verb forms.

Which sentence correctly places the adverb 'always'?

• They always had been arguing about video games.

• They had always been arguing about video games.

• They had been always arguing about video games.

• They had been arguing always about video games.

Answer explanation

In the past perfect continuous, adverbs like 'always', 'just', or 'never' are typically placed between the first two auxiliary verbs, 'had' and 'been'.

Identify which sentence best describes a background action that was happening before a main event.

• When the teacher walked in, we were whispering.

• When the teacher walked in, we whispered.

• When the teacher walked in, we had been whispering for ten minutes.

• When the teacher walked in, we have been whispering.

Answer explanation

The past perfect continuous with a duration phrase ('for ten minutes') best shows that the whispering was an ongoing background action that started before the teacher arrived.

Complete the sentence: The kids' clothes were muddy because they _____ in the park all afternoon.

• play

• was playing

• had played

• had been playing

Answer explanation

The past perfect continuous ('had been playing') explains the reason (playing all afternoon) for a past result (clothes were muddy).