It is used to express-
- a continued or
- ongoing action
that started in past and continued until sometime in
past. (Remember, an ongoing action in past which continued till some time in
past) There will be a time reference, such as “since 1980, for three hours etc”
from which the action had started. A sense of time reference is found in these
sentences which shows that action had started in past and continued till some time
in past. Such time reference or sense of reference is the identity of
Present perfect continuous tense because it tells that action has started from
a particular time in past or for some time period. For example, “He had been
studying in this school since 2005”, so the it means that he had started his
education in this school in 2005 and he studied in this school till sometime in
past.
Note: If there is not time
reference or sense of time reference, then it is not Past perfect continuous
tense because there is no hint about the time of action when it started in past
or continued for some time period, so it seems just an ongoing action in past
which resembles “past Continuous tense”. So the reference of time
differentiates between Past perfect continuous
tense and past continuous tense.
Rules: An auxiliary verb
“had been” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb (base verb) +ing (present
participle) is used as main verb in sentence. “Since” or “for” is used before
the “time reference” in sentence. If the time reference is exactly known such
as 1995, 4 O’clock then “since” is used before the time in sentence. If the
time reference is not exactly known such as three hours, six years, four days,
then “for” is used before the time in sentence. Time reference such as 3 hours
or 5 days is not exactly known because we don’t know that about which three
hours a day is told in sentence or about which 5 days in a month is told in
sentence. While the 1995 is exactly known time.
Sentence Structure
Positive Sentence.
• Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb (Present
participle) + Object + Time reference
• Subject + had been + (1st form of verb or base verb +
ing) + object + time reference
Examples.
I had been waiting
for him for one hour.
She had been playing
chess since 7 O’clock.
Negative Sentence.
• Subject +”Not” between the Auxiliary verbs + main verb
(present participle) + Object + Time reference
• Subject + had not been + (1st form of verb or base verb
+ ing) + object + time reference
To make negative sentence, the word “not” is added inside
auxiliary verb, so it becomes “had not been”.
Examples.
I had not
been waiting for him for one hour.
She had
not been playing chess since 7 O’clock.
Interrogative
Sentence.
• Auxiliary verb+ Subject + Auxiliary verb + main verb
(present participle) + object + time reference
• Had + Subject + been + (1st form of verb or base
verb+ing) + object + time reference
Interrogative sentence starts with auxiliary verb “had”
and auxiliary verb “been” is used after subject in sentence.
Examples.
Had I
been waiting for him for one hour?
Had she
been playing chess 7 O’clock?
Examples
Positive sentences
I
had been living in America since 2003.
He
had been playing cricket for two hours.
They
had been watching television since 6 O’clock.
She
had been working in this office since 2007.
It
had been raining for three days.
Negative sentences
I had not
been living in America since 2003.
He had
not been playing cricket for two hours.
They had
not been watching television since 6 O’clock.
She had
not been working in this office since 2007.
It had
not been raining for three days.
Positive sentences
Had I
been living in America since 2003?
Had he
been playing cricket for two hours.
Had they
been watching television since 6 O’clock?
Had she
been working in this office since 2007?
Had
it been raining for three days?
No comments:
Post a Comment