The Past Perfect Continuous
Here’s how to make the past perfect continuous. It’s ‘had’ + been (the past participle of ‘be’)
+ verb-ing.
Firstly, let’s look at the positive form:
 I had been living
 You had been going
 She had been sleeping
 He had been working
 It had been raining
 We had been studying
 They had been cooking
The short form is: ‘d been verb-ing. Be careful, because the short form for ‘would’ is also ‘d.
However, ‘would’ is always followed by the infinitive, but ‘had’ is followed by the past
participle.
Next, the negative form:
 I had not been trying (I hadn’t been..)
 You had not been working (you hadn’t been..)
 She had not been crying (she hadn’t been..)
 He had not been shopping (he hadn’t been..)
 It had not been snowing (it hadn’t been..)
 We had not been reading (we hadn’t been..)
It’s pretty easy to make the question too.
‘Yes / no’ questions:
 Had I been working?
 Had you been sleeping?
 Had she been reading?
 Had he been watching TV?
 Had it been raining?
 Had we been drinking?
 Had they been eating?
‘Wh’ questions:
 Where had I been working?
 How long had you been sleeping?
 What had she been reading?
 How long had he been watching TV?
 How long had it been raining?
 What had we been drinking?
 Why had they been eating?