Past perfect continuous

1 Use

A When we are talking about the past, we sometimes want to refer back to an earlier past.

Dave had been driving foran hour when his car broke down.

We use the past perfect continuous (eg Dave had been driving for an hour) to talk about smth which had been in progress up to the past time we are talking about (eg when his car broke down).

I'd been walking forabout half an hour when it suddenly started to rain.

Mr Woods had been working for 50 years when he finally retired in 1965.

B The past perfect continuous is the past form of the present perfect continuous. Compare:

Present perfect continuous Past perfect continuous

I've been working hard all day, so I'm very tired now.

I'd been working hard all day, so I was very tired last night.

EXERCISE I5A

Complete the sentences using the past perfect continuous of the verbs in brackets.

Example: I'd been standing (stand) there for nearly a half an hour when I realized I was at the wrong bus-stop.

1 Maria's sister (study) at university for eight years before she finally passed her exams.

2 'I'm really sorry I was so late last night.' 'That's OK. We (not | wait) long.'

3The strange thing was that we (just | talk) about ghosts when we heard the noise upstairs.

4 'Robert moved from Manchester to London in 1988.' 'How long (he | live) in Manchester?'

EXERCISE 15B

Join each idea in A with an idea from B. Make sentences using the past perfect continuous of the verbs in brackets.

Example: 1 I felt very cold because I had been standing outside for over two hours.

А В

1 I felt very cold because 2 I (play) tennis so 3 The children's hair was wet because 4 I (not | feel) well for weeks before 5 They (travel) all day so 6 They (drive) for about half an hour when they realized

they were lost they were very tired I finally went to see the doctor I (stand) outside for over two hours they (swim) in the sea I was feeling hot and sticky

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