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  ENGLISH GRAMMAR  
Alphabet
Vowels & Consonants
Word Building
Sentences
Articles
Cardinal-Ordinal Numbers
Noun
Pronoun
Verb
Adverb
Adjective
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection
Tenses
Opposites
Active & Passive Voice
Direct & Indirect Speech
Vocabulary
TENSES
Kinds of Tenses Tense Table
Simple Present Present Continuous Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous
Simple Past Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous
Simple Future Future Continuous Future Perfect Future Perfect Continuous
Present Conditional Tense Conditional Sentences
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

Past Perfect Continuous is used to express an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued until another time in the past.

Structure for Past Perfect Continuous

subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb
subject had been base+ing
They had been going.

Structure for Negative sentence

subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb
subject had not + been base+ing
They had not been going.

Structure for interrogative sentence

auxiliary verb subject auxiliary verb main verb
Had subject been base+ing
Had they been going?

We use the past perfect continuous tense to:

express an action began before past and continued until another time in the past.
  USES OF PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
The Past Perfect Continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued up to that time:
 
Examples
At that time he had been writing a novel for two months.
Sachin was angry. He had been waiting for two hours.
When Mr. Mukherji came to the school in 1965, Mr. Anand had already been teaching there for five years.
The past perfect continuous tense is like the past perfect tense, but it expresses longer actions in the past before another action in the past:
 
Examples
Had the driver been drinking before the accident?
Milkha was very tired. He had been running.
I could smell cigarettes. Somebody had been smoking.
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE TABLE
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE INTERROGATIVE
I had been going. I had not been going. Had I been going?
You had been going. You had not been going. Had you been going?
We had been going. We had not been going. Had we been going?
He/She had been going. He/She had not been going. Had he/she been going?
They had been going. They had not been going. Had they been going?
You may also like to see
Kinds of Tenses Tense Table
Simple Present Present Continuous Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous
Simple Past Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous
Simple Future Future Continuous Future Perfect Future Perfect Continuous
Present Conditional Tense Conditional Sentences