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The past perfect continuous, also known as the past perfect progressive, is a verb tense that is used to describe an ongoing action that had started in the past and had continued up until another point in the past. Here are some examples of the past perfect continuous in positive, negative, and question form:

Positive:

  • I had been studying for three hours before I took a break.
  • They had been walking for miles before they found a place to rest.

In the positive form, the past perfect continuous is formed by using "had been" followed by the present participle (-ing) of the verb.

Negative:

  • She had not been working at the company for very long before she quit.
  • We had not been traveling for very long before the car broke down.

In the negative form, "not" is added between "had" and "been" to form the contraction "had not been."

Question:

  • Had you been waiting for a long time before the train arrived?
  • Had they been practicing for weeks before the performance?

In the question form, the word order is inverted, with "had" coming before the subject. To form a question with a negative sentence, "not" is inserted between "had" and the subject.

Overall, the past perfect continuous is used to emphasize the duration of a past action that had started and continued up until another point in the past.
 
The past perfect continuous, also known as the past perfect progressive, is a verb tense that is used to describe an ongoing action that had started in the past and had continued up until another point in the past. Here are some examples of the past perfect continuous in positive, negative, and question form:

Positive:

  • I had been studying for three hours before I took a break.
  • They had been walking for miles before they found a place to rest.

In the positive form, the past perfect continuous is formed by using "had been" followed by the present participle (-ing) of the verb.

Negative:

  • She had not been working at the company for very long before she quit.
  • We had not been traveling for very long before the car broke down.

In the negative form, "not" is added between "had" and "been" to form the contraction "had not been."

Question:

  • Had you been waiting for a long time before the train arrived?
  • Had they been practicing for weeks before the performance?

In the question form, the word order is inverted, with "had" coming before the subject. To form a question with a negative sentence, "not" is inserted between "had" and the subject.

Overall, the past perfect continuous is used to emphasize the duration of a past action that had started and continued up until another point in the past.
Past perfect continuous structures positive, negative, questions
 
Past perfect continuous structures positive, negative, questions
Sure! Here are some examples of the past perfect continuous in positive, negative, and question forms:

Positive:

  • I had been playing tennis for two hours before it started raining.
  • They had been cooking dinner for an hour before their guests arrived.

In the positive form, we use the auxiliary verb "had" followed by "been" and the present participle (-ing) form of the verb.

Negative:

  • She had not been studying Spanish for very long before she gave up.
  • We had not been watching TV for more than an hour before we got bored.

In the negative form, we use the auxiliary verb "had" followed by "not" and "been" and the present participle (-ing) form of the verb. The contraction for "had not been" is "hadn't been".

Question:

  • Had you been waiting for a long time before the bus finally arrived?
  • Had they been working on the project all day before they realized their mistake?

In the question form, we invert the order of the auxiliary verb "had" and the subject. To form a negative interrogative sentence, we add "not" between "had" and the subject.

Overall, the past perfect continuous is used to describe an action that started in the past and continued up until another point in the past. It emphasizes the duration of the action and is often used to provide background information in a narrative.
 

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