Past perfect continuous | Free practice exercises

Present perfect and past perfect

Past perfect continuous

affirmative, negative, yes/no, wh- questionsb2

Past perfect continuousThey had been walking for hours when they saw the house in the distance.She was worried because he hadn’t been sleeping well recently.We'd been dancing for hours and we were tired.He had a headache because he'd been studying since five o’clock in the morning.We form the past perfect continuous with:had + been + -ing.Positive and negativeSubjecthadbeen-ing+Ithadbeenraininghard.-Ihadn'tbeenfeelingwell for hours.QuestionsQuestion wordhad/hadn'tsubjectbeeningHow longhadyoubeenwaitingbefore he arrived?Whyhadn'tshebeenfeelingwell?We use the past perfect continuous to talk about an action or a situation that continued for a period of time before another action or situation in the past. This action may or may not have continued up to the moment we are talking about it.I’d been living in Italy for three years when we first met. (I was still living in Italy when we met.)When I woke up, I saw that it had been raining. (It had stopped raining by the time I woke up.)

Use the past perfect continuous form and the words in brackets to complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first sentence. Use short forms (I've), not full forms (I have) where possible.

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I'd stopped studying for my exams at least a month earlier. I still wasn't studying for my exams.
I

. (at least a month)

We'd stopped getting on well some time before. We still weren't getting on well.
We

. (some time)

You were sitting there when I arrived. When did you first sit there?

there? (how long, you)

You were waiting for us. Did you arrive a long time before us?

for us for a long time? (you)