Easy Word | Luyện ngữ pháp


Luyện ngữ pháp - Destination B1 (Unit 5: Grammar - Past perfect simple, past perfect continuous)


Past perfect continuous

had + been + -ing

statement

 I/you/we/they/he/she/it had ('d) been writing ...

negative

 I/you/we/they/he/she/it had not (hadn't) been writing...

question

 Had I/you/we/they/he/she/it been writing...?

Use

Example
Actions continuing up to, or stopping just before, a moment in the past We’d been doing grammar exercises for over an hour, so we were really bored.
They had a break because they'd been working so hard.

Helpful hints

The past perfect continuous is often used with the following words and phrases:

for Tony had been studying for hours, so he had a headache.
since She'd been hoping to win the competition since the summer.
before We’d been talking about the Internet before the lesson started.
all day/night/etc I'd been studying all day.

Watch out!

The past perfect simple often emphasises the result of an action:
✓ She'd written an article for the school newspaper. ( = She'd finished it.)

The past perfect continuous often emphasises the action, and the time spent on the action, rather than the result:
✓ She'd been writing an article for the newspaper. ( = She'd started, but she hadn't finished it.)

Form - Past perfect simple Exercise - A


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