THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense reveals that an action began at a certain point in the past and also continued till another point of time in the past. It generally tells about the duration of action. STRUCTURE: Subject + Helping Verb + Be form + Main Verb + Rest of the sentence MAKING POSITIVE SENTENCES
Subject	Helping Verb	Be form	Main Verb	Rest of the sentence
I	had	been	going	to school.
We	had	been	going	to school.
You	had	been	going	to school.
He	had	been	going	to school.
She	had	been	going	to school.
It	had	been	going	to school.
Raju	had	been	going	to school.
They	had	been	going	to school.
Raju and Rani	had	been	going	to school.
MAKING NEGATIVE SENTENCES
Subject	Helping Verb	Adverb	Be form	Main Verb	Rest of the sentence
I	had	not	been	going	to school.
We	had	not	been	going	to school.
You	had	not	been	going	to school.
He	had	not	been	going	to school.
She	had	not	been	going	to school.
It	had	not	been	going	to school.
Raju	had	not	been	going	to school.
They	had	not	been	going	to school.
Raju and Rani	had	not	been	going	to school.
MAKING POSITIVE INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
Helping Verb	Subject	Be form	Main Verb	Rest of the sentence
Had	I	been	going	to school?
Had	we	been	going	to school?
Had	you	been	going	to school?
Had	he	been	going	to school?
Had	she	been	going	to school?
Had	it	been	going	to school?
Had	Raju	been	going	to school?
Had	they	been	going	to school?
Had	Raju and Rani	been	going	to school?
MAKING NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
Helping Verb	Subject	Adverb	Be form	Main Verb	Rest of the sentence
Had	I	not	been	going	to school?
Had	we	not	been	going	to school?
Had	you	not	been	going	to school?
Had	he	not	been	going	to school?
Had	she	not	been	going	to school?
Had	it	not	been	going	to school?
Had	Raju	not	been	going	to school?
Had	they	not	been	going	to school?
Had	Raju and Rani	not	been	going	to school?

USAGE:

We use the Past Perfect Continuous Tense when an action how long went on up to a specific past time:

I had been trying to change his opinion for ten minutes.

Raju had been reading the book for ten minutes.

It is better to use the Past Perfect Tense to tell that action happened how many times:

I had seen the movie many times before.

We had visited the temple at least ten times during the summer holidays.

State verbs should not be used with the Past Perfect Continuous Tense. In such a case take the help of the Past Perfect Tense.

We had owned this house for five years before we sold it.

Know the two different contexts here with the Past Perfect Continuous Tense and the Past Continuous Tense:

When I reached the village, all the people had been gathering around a tree.

( I reached after all the people had gathered).

When I reached the village, all the people were gathering around a tree.

( I reached there while all the people were gathering ).

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used to talk about situations or actions with reasons:

I paid a fine to my teacher as I had not been maintaining neatness in the class.

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