Past perfect continuous education: sample sentences and tables

Perfect Continuous times are mainly used to describe the process of action before a certain designated event, or for a specified period of time. In practice, in colloquial speech, these times are rare.

The past long perfect time is translated into English as the past perfect continuous (past perfect perfection). Rules, examples and tables will help you to understand the cases of using this complex time form.

Education last a long time

• Affirmative form. The forming word for this time is to be in the Past Perfect (had been) + participle with the ending -ing (that is, the participle in the present tense). They had been dancing.
• Negative. If a particle is not negated, it is put after the auxiliary verb to have in the past tense (had). We had not been dancing.
• Interrogative. When the question is formed, the auxiliary verb had had a place at the beginning of the sentence, before the subject. Had I been dancing?
• Interrogative-negative. In this case, the particle not follows the subject. Had I not been dancing flamenco?

Such constructions are most often translated into Russian with the word "unless": "Did not I dance flamenco?"

Past perfect continuous use: sample sentences

In order to emphasize the process of the event, which lasted until some point indicated by another past time (mainly Past Indefinite) and continued after that, the construction is built in the Past Perfect Continuous. Examples of proposals illustrate this rule:

• I had been knitting for three hours when my mother returned home. "I knitted for three hours when my mother returned home. Another case of applying the last long perfect time: the process of an action completed immediately before the event, marked with a different time in the past (usually a simple past, less past a Past Continuous.) The time span may not be Stipulated.
• The day before yesterday I opened the window and looked out. Although the sky was bright and cloudless, it was chilly, the grass and foliage wer wet and there were puddles on the ground. It had been raining. - The day before yesterday I opened the window and looked out. Despite the fact that the sky was bright and cloudless, the grass and foliage were wet, cool and in places puddles on the ground could be seen. It was raining (before this). One suggestion could be to say: Though the beams of the sun was shining brightly and the sky was cloudless, it was chilly, the ground was still wet as it had been raining (the day before). "Despite the fact that the sun's rays shone brightly in the cloudless sky, it was cool, and the earth was still wet, because the day before it was raining.

In any case, the context is important for understanding that at the moment it is appropriate to construct a phrase in the past perfect continuous. Examples of proposals illustrate the options for applying this complex time form.

The difference from the past long time

A distinctive feature of this time form is a specified period of time during which an event occurred or an action was taken. If not, it would be better to use Past Continuous.

Comparison of Past Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous, examples of suggestions:

Verbs incompatible with Continuous

There are a number of verbs that do not apply in continuous (Continuous):

1. Words denoting the perception of the senses: hear - in the sense of "distinguish by ear," see - see, understand; Smell - to have a fragrance, smell; Taste - to have a certain taste. But these verbs, when used in the form of a long time, take on a different meaning: hear - hear something, get some news; See - meet, see someone, watch; Smell - smell, smell; Taste - taste.
2. Words denoting thinking processes: think - think, believe (but thinking can mean "thinking"); Consider; Feel - to have some opinion; Believe - believe, trust; Notice (smth. Or smb.) - to notice (someone or something); Understand - understand, understand; Know - know.
3. Attitude, possession: be - be; Owe - be due, obligated; Own - to own, own; Depend - depend.

If one of the above words occurs, then Perfect Continuous should be replaced with Perfect.

Although I had known them for almost two years, I was disappointed. "Although I've known them for almost two years now, I was disappointed.

They were in London for a few days when I was called. "They've been in London for days when I called."

To bring to the automatism the use of this form in colloquial speech or when writing essays, one must independently compile all possible variants and examples of sentences. Past perfect continuous is a pretty simple topic to understand. However, at first learning English, there can be difficulties associated with the fact that in Russian language of similar times does not exist.