Lady moving away reflecting the past perfect progressive

Past Perfect Progressive

The Past Perfect Continuous is also the Past Perfect Progressive 

Definition: It is used to say that something had been happening before something else happened.

All the actions are completed.

Typical examples

1. They had been working in Egypt for 4 years before we traveled there.

2. Paul complained of headaches because he had been staying awake too late.

3. The flight arrived at 3 pm. They had not been waiting for it until 5 pm.

past perfect progressive

Exception: We can use the time expressions of ‘for’ and ‘since’ when making sentences in this tense.

The past perfect progressive can be used in the following situations.

  1. We can use it to discuss past actions that were not completed when another action happened.

Example

We had been working in the new company for 5 weeks before we met the Manager.

They had been running for 4hours every day last year before they applied for the marathon.

My uncle had been teaching in Europe before he met his wife.

  1. We can use it to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.

Example

We had been studying for 30 mins before they joined us.

My sister had been cooking since morning because of the birthday party.

The Past Perfect Continuous tense shows cause and effect

Example

We were in danger, so we had not been hunting in the forest.

Past Perfect Progressive Tense Exception

The (be+ing) and know verbs are exceptions in continuous forms.

Examples

Know

Before their wedding, they had known each other for 10 years.

Be

Two months ago, Ronan stopped coming to school. We were surprised because she’d always had the best grades in our class. 

Past perfect progressive exercises

1. We (play)…… …. for 2 hours before our parents came back home.

2. How long (live/she) …….  abroad?

3. We took Elizebeth to the park because she (cry) ……to play.

4. Finally, the train came, we (wait) ……. for  15 minutes.  

5. John is out of breath because he (run)…….. swimming for 1hour. 

6. My Dad was very exhausted yesterday. He (work)……….all day.

7. The chefs at the restaurant(cook)…….. all evening because of the wedding.

8. The airline canceled my flight 2hours ago. I(look)………forward to enjoying my Miami trip.

9. The football tournament just ended. Many people (watch)……..  the matches expectantly.

10. The students in front of the administrative building have been unhappy. The principal (delay)…………… to paste the examination results on the notice board.

11. The players (wait)……. for 5 mins before the Referee blew the final whistle.

12. The date between Peter and Mary ended sadly because of Mary (wait)…….  for over 40 mins at the restaurant.

13. When the cricket game began everyone was quiet. For 5 mins after the first goal, a fan (shout) ……… as he cheered his team.

Practice making your own sentences with the following verbs

Travel

Look

Run

Sell

Sit

Sleep

Keep

Walk

Go

Give

Call

Meet

More articles on the Past Simple, Past Progressive and Past Perfect tenses is here.

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About me

Picture of Sarah Luma

Sarah Luma

I am a TEFL certified English Tutor with over 7 years of teaching experience offline and online. I am also an enthusiastic Refugee Rights Researcher with Master degrees in International Law. Additionally, I sing gospel music and write Christian poems. My life is based on Christianity and I am devoted to glorify God via my Biblical inspirational writings.

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