Unit 2
The past perfect continuous
Student's book page 19
The function:
- We use the past perfect continuous to talk about actions or situations that were happening up to a specific moment in the past.
(a continuous or repeated action that happened before another action in the past)
Form:
Subject+ (had been + V-ing) …
Examples
- Ali had been thinking about his friend when he received a text from him.
- By the time the bus arrived, we had been waiting for an hour.
- She had been working at the company for three years when it went out of business.
- Ahmad wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work.
- James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia.
- The police had been looking for the criminal for two years before they caught him.
- The patient had been waiting in the emergence for an hour before a doctor finally treated him.
- Ali had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia.
- They had been talking for over an hour before Sami arrived.
Words used with the past perfect continuous:
since + past The woman was tired. She had been cleaning since dawn.
for + past My sister was very busy yesterday as she had been preparing for a special occasion.
by+ past By the time we arrived, she had been helping the old man.
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