A |
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.
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. |
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 hadn't been living there very long, but she knew the city very well.
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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.
- Paul went to the doctor last Friday. He hadn't been feeling well for some time.
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C |
Compare have been -ing (present perfect continuous) and had been -ing (past perfect continuous):
Present perfect continuous
![](../uploads/grammar/image/Unit16-c-1.jpg) |
Past perfect continuous
![](../uploads/grammar/image/Unit16-c-2.jpg) |
- I hope the bus comes soon. I've been waiting for 20 minutes. (before now) |
- At last the bus came. I'd been waiting for 20 minutes. (before the bus came) |
- James is out of breath. He has been running. |
- James was out of breath. He had been running. |
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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.
- Katherine was sitting in an armchair resting. She was tired because she'd been working very hard.
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E |
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)
- I was surprised when Lisa cut her hair. She'd had long hair since I first met her. (not she'd been having)
For a list of these verbs, see Unit 4A. For have, see Unit 17.
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