016 : Past perfect continuous (I had been doing)

   A   

Study this example situation:

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Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window.
The sun was shining, but the ground was very wet.

 

It had been raining.

 

It was not raining when I looked out of the window; the sun was shining. But it had been raining before.

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Had been -ing is the past perfect continuous:

 

I/we/you/they he/she/it

had

(= I'd etc.) (= he'd etc.)

been

doing working playing etc.

Some more examples:

• When the boys came into the house, their clothes were dirty, their hair was untidy and one of them had a black eye. They'd been fighting.
• I was very tired when I got home. I'd been working hard all day.
• When I went to Madrid a few years ago, I stayed with a friend of mine. She hadn't been living there very long, but she knew the city very well.

 

 

   B   

You can say that something had been happening for a period of time before something else happened:

• We'd been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain heavily.
• Paul went to the doctor last Friday. He hadn't been feeling well for some time.

 

 

   C   

Compare have been -ing (present perfect continuous) and had been -ing (past perfect continuous):

 

Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
- I hope the bus comes soon. I've been waiting for 20 minutes. (before now)	- At last the bus came. I'd been waiting for 20 minutes. (before the bus came)
- James is out of breath. He has been running.	- James was out of breath. He had been running.

 

 

   D   

Compare was -ing (past continuous) and had been -ing:

• It wasn't raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it had been raining, so the ground was wet.
• Katherine was sitting in an armchair resting. She was tired because she'd been working very hard.

 

 

   E   

Some verbs (for example, know and like) are not normally used in the continuous:

• We were good friends. We had known each other for years. (not had been knowing)
• I was surprised when Lisa cut her hair. She'd had long hair since I first met her. (not she'd been having)

For a list of these verbs, see Unit 4A. For have, see Unit 17.