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 Present Perfect Continuous

snowing day

When we reached the mountains it had been snowing for 3 days .

 

The past perfect continuous is formed by using the auxiliary had been+ing form of the verb  ( had been working ) .

AFFIRMATIVE     : I/you/he/she/it/we/they had been working .

NEGATIVE            :I/you/he/she/it/we/they had not( hadn’t) been working.

INTERROGATIVE :Had I/you/he/she/it/we/they been working ?

When do we use Past Perfect Continuous ?

We use Past Perfect Continuous to talk about the duration of an activity up to a point in the past .

I had been doing my homeworks the night before and I was tired.

COMPARE ! 

We use the Present Perfect Continuous to talk about how long an activity had been going on up to the present .

Example. I have been working here for three months. ( I am still working here now .)

We use the Past Perfect Continuous to talk about the duration of an activity up to a point in the past .

Example . When I left my last job , I had been working there for four years. ( I started in 1990 and I left in 1994 ).

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PRACTICE!

Copy of Copy of Copy of Keep the clothes you model!

 

 

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