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Past Perfect Progressive

 



Past Perfect Progressive Tense

The past perfect progressive tense is used to show that an ongoing action in the past has ended. For example:

  • John had been baking a cake.
  • They had been painting the fence.


Past Perfect Progressive Tense

The past perfect progressive tense is used to show that an ongoing action in the past has ended. For example:
  • John had been baking a cake.
  • They had been painting the fence.

More Examples of the Past Perfect Progressive Tense


Here are some more examples of the past perfect progressive tense (shaded):
  • She had been painting the door before the dog scratched it.
  • The jury had been considering its verdict for several hours when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
  • He just couldn't summon the energy. He had been working at the dock all afternoon.
  • I was coming home from kindergarten. Well, they told me it was kindergarten. I found out later I had been working in a factory for ten years. (Comedian Ellen DeGeneres)
  • Many people had been asking me to write an autobiography. I thought I'd better tell my story before other people told it for me. (Comedian Michael Palin)

Forming the Past Perfect Progressive Tense


The past perfect progressive tense is formed:

[subject]
 + 
"had been"
 + 
[present participle]
  • I had been jumping.
  • They had been meeting.

Forming the Present Participle


The last word in each example above (i.e. the [verb] + "ing" part) is known as a present participle. It is formed like this:

Add "ing" to most verbs:
  • play > playing
  • shout > shouting

For verbs that end "e," remove the "e" and add "ing":
  • prepare > preparing
  • ride > riding

For verbs that end "ie," change the "ie" to "y" and add "ing":
  • lie > lying
  • untie > untying

For verbs whose last syllable is written [consonant-vowel-consonant] and is stressed, double the final consonant and add "ing":
  • run > running
  • forget > forgetting

The Negative Version

If you need the negative version, you can use the following construction:
[subject]
 + 
"had not been"
 + 
[present participle]
  • She had not been painting the door.
  • The jury had not been considering its verdict for very long when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
  • He had plenty of energy. He had not been working at the dock at all that afternoon.
Remember that "had not" is sometimes written as the contraction "hadn't."

The Question Version


If you need to ask a question, you can use the following word order for a yes/no question:
"had"
 + 
[subject]
 + 
"been"
 + 
[present participle]
  • Had she been painting the door?
  • Had the jury been considering its verdict for very long when the judge ordered them to find Jones guilty?
  • Why was he so tired? Had he been working at the dock all afternoon?
You can use the following word order for a question-word question:
[question word]
 + 
"had"
 + 
[subject]
 + 
"been"
 + 
[present participle]
  • When had she been painting the door?
  • Why was he so tired? Why had he been working at the dock all afternoon?

Put the verbs into the correct form (past perfect progressive).

  1. We (sleep)  for 12 hours when he woke us up.
  2. They (wait)  at the station for 90 minutes when the train finally arrived.
  3. We (look for)  her ring for two hours and then we found it in the bathroom.
  4. I (not / walk)  for a long time, when it suddenly began to rain.
  5. How long (learn / she)  English before she went to London?
  6. Frank Sinatra caught the flu because he (sing)  in the rain too long.
  7. He (drive)  less than an hour when he ran out of petrol.
  8. They were very tired in the evening because they (help)  on the farm all day.
  9. I (not / work)  all day; so I wasn't tired and went to the disco at night.
  10. They (cycle)  all day so their legs were sore in the evening.

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