We studied in Step-19: What is Past Progressive? , Use of ‘had’ in 1st/2nd/3rd person Singular and Plural, Sentence Structure Formula of Past Perfect Progressive, and Past Perfect Perfect Progressive sentence structure with examples.

What is Past Progressive?

The activity was going on from a particular point of time in the past to another point of time and it was still going on when some other event took place. Past Perfect Progressive is also known as Past Perfect Continuous.

Affirmative /Negative / Interrogative / Interrogative and Negative forms of Past Perfect Progressive

The Past Perfect Progressive Tense has the structure: had + been + ing verb. The Interrogative is formed by inverting the first auxiliary and the subject and the negative is created by adding not to the first auxiliary that is ‘had’.

	Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative	Interrogative and Negative
Singular	I/You/He/She/It/Ram had been playing football.	I/You/He/She/It/Ram had not been playing football.	Had I/You/He/She/It/ Ram been playing football?	Had I/You/He/She/It/ Ram not been playing football? or Hadn’t  I/You/He/She/It/ Ram been playing football?
Plural	We/You/Players/ They had been playing football.	We/You/Players/ They had not been playing football.	Had We/You/Players/ They been playing football?	Had We/You/Players/ They not been playing football? or Hadn’t  We/You/Players/ They been playing football?

Rules for Past Perfect Progressive to use

Past Perfect Progressive Tense Rule-1

The activity was going on from a particular point of time in the past to another point of time and it was still going on when some other event took place. Study the examples:

Driving _______accident _____now.

• I had been driving for two hours when the accident happened.
• He had been reading for hours before he went to bed.

The results of the previous activities were felt later in the past.

Past Perfect Progressive Exercise-1

Complete the sentences using the PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE along with the words and phrases given in brackets. Study the examples:

1. At last, my friend came. I __________(wait/for four hours). Answer: I had been waiting for him for four hours.
2. When it started raining. Answer: we __________(play/in the field)
3. The Mohapatras were book sellers then. Answer: They__________((sell/school and college books)
4. The cricket match was going on. Answer: The children__________(play/cricket)
5. Father was tired, and he was resting. Answer: He __________(work/in the garden)
6. Krishna was playing the violin. Answer: He __________(practice/for two years)
7. The children were happy. Answer: They __________(sing/in the gallery)
8. When we came home. Answer: my grandmother _________(look for/glasses)
9. They were breathless. Answer: They __________(swim/in the river)
10. The dog was panting. Answer: It__________(chase/a fox)

Past Perfect Progressive Exercise-2

Complete the sentences using the verbs in the right tense. Use the words and expressions given in the brackets: Mark the example:

1. I came home.I saw that my maternal Aunt__________(come)
2. We came to the field. The players were still playing. They__________(play/for two hours)
3. When I came home, I was very tired. The work was going on. I __________(work/hard/all day in the garden)
4. Your sister is a writer. She__________(a lot of books/write)
5. Your Father is a writer. He__________(a lot of books/write)
6. Mr. Mallick is a teacher. He has already taught Mathematics in this school for six years. He is likely to continue. Mr. Mallick _________((in this school/teach Mathematics)
7. Monika is still looking for her mobile . She __________(lose/her mobile)
8. Savitri is under treatment. She__________(since/21^st January, 2022), Answer: She has been under treatment since 21^st January 2022
9. Has Goutam ever been to New Delhi?
10. I am sorry that I am late. Since when __________? (you/wait)
11. Please hurry up.The train __________(already/arrive at the station)
12. We reached Bhubaneswar at 6 a.m. It __________(raining/all night)
13. When we came home, mother was washing clothes. She__________(was/clothes)
14. Now your car looks clean.You__________(clean/it/well)

Past Perfect Progressive Exercise-3

Fill in the blanks with proper tense forms of the verbs.

PRESENT TENSE	PAST TENSE	PAST PARTICIPLE FORM
learn	learned/learnt	learned/learnt
go	went	gone
		heard
		built
	kept
catch
	thanked
	told
	won
		written
	lay
see
lay
	flew

“If you buy things you don’t need, soon you will have to sell things you need”

-Warren Buffett

learn more about Past Perfect Progressive@Grammarly.com