PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

• It is used to express a continued or ongoing

action that started in past and continued until
sometime in past.
• (Remember, an ongoing action in past which
continued till some time in past) There will be
a time reference, such as “since 1980, for
three hours etc” from which the action had
started
 FORMULA
• S + HAD BEEN +V-ING (+)
• S + HADN´T BEEN +V-ING (-)
• HAD + S + BEEN + V-ING? (?)
• Positive sentences
I had been living in America since 2003.
He had been playing cricket for two hours.
They had been watching television since 6
O’clock.
She had been working in this office since
2007.
It had been raining for three days.
• Negative sentences
They had not been playing football.
She had not been singing
John and Merry had not been loving each
other.
• Interrogative sentences
How long had you been studying Turkish
before you moved to Ankara?
• How long had you been waiting to get on the
bus?
• Had you been waiting there for more than
two hours?
• YOU CAN SAY THAT SOMETHING HAD BEEN
HAPPENING FOR A PERIOD OF TIME BEFORE
SOMETHING ELSE HAPPENED
• We had been playing for about half an hour
when it started to rain
• I had been doing my homework when she
arrived.
• When the guests came, we had been waiting
for an hour.
• He had been standing in front of the door for
thirty minutes before it opened.
• By the time the teacher came, the students
had been reading a half part of the text.
• They had been talking for over an hour before
Tony arrived.
• She had been working at that company for
three years when it went out of business.
• Mike 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.
 Future Perfect Tense
• The FUTURE PERFECT TENSE indicates that an
action will have been completed (finished or
"perfected") at some point in the future. This
tense is formed with "will" plus "have" plus
the past participle of the verb (which can be
either regular or irregular in form): "I will
have spent all my money by this time next
year. I will have run successfully in three
marathons if I can finish this one."
 Formula
• Positive : S + will + have + V3
• Negative : S + will + not + have + V3
• Interrogative : Will + S + have + V3
• We will have arrived by three o’clock.
She will not have finished her study by this time
next month.
Will they have received the parcel by tomorrow
morning?
• I will have been here for six month on June 1st.
She will not have been in Surabaya by the end of
this month.
Will you have been here for five years next June?
• Before he come, the table will have been
prepared.
• At this time next month, I’ll have finished my
driving course.
• On the 15th of May It will have been two
months since we met for the first time.
• By this time next week, I will have worked on
this project for twenty days.
• Before he sees his publisher, Charles will have
finished four chapters in his new novel.
• A Democratic president will have been in the
White House for nearly half of the twentieth
century.