Past perfect continuous for ESL students
- 1. Past Perfect Continuous Frances’s ELSA Classes February, 2014
- 2. The structure of the past perfect continuous tense is: subject + helping verb + helping verb + main verb had + been + base + ing
- 3. Here are some examples of the past perfect continuous tense: subject + I auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb had been swimming when I fell. been waiting for ages + You had - We had not been paying attention - It had not been raining When I fell ? Had you been swimming When you broke your leg? ? Had It been raining The ground is wet
- 4. Uses • USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Past
- 5. Uses - DURATION • A: How long had you been studying English before you moved to Victoria? B: I had not been studying English very long. • (I’d not been studying for very long)
- 6. Uses • USE 2 Cause of Something in the Past
- 7. Uses – CAUSE and effect • Jason was tired because he had been jogging. • Sam gained weight because he had been eating too much. • Ben failed the final test because he had not been studying.
- 8. Present Perfect or Past Perfect Continuous? • Tom looks very guilty, I think he’s been smoking. • Tom looked guilty, I think he’d been smoking.
- 9. Don’t forget to use contractions when you speak! I had been talking I’d been talking You had been talking You’d been talking He had been talking She had been talking It had been raining He’d been talking She’d been talking It’d been raining We had been talking We’d been talking You had been talking You’d been talking They had been talking They’d been talking
- 10. THE END • They believed that Sam had just been having a very interesting lesson on the Past Perfect Continuous: