PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Singular number Plural Number
First person I had been waiting We had been waiting
Second person You had been waiting You had been waiting
Third person He had been waiting They had been waiting
If – impossible condition
Example:
If I had been playing attention, I wouldn’t have got into an accident
Cause of something in the past
Example:
He went on a diet because he had been eating too much
In Reported speech
Example:
She said that John had been helping her study for months
To describe an action that had been going on for some time in the past.
Example:
The students had been practicing for the last couple of weeks.
The Past Perfect Continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in
the past and continued up to that time; as,
At 'hat time he had been writing a novel for two months.
When Mr. Mukerji came to the school in 1995, Mr. Anand had already been teaching
there for five years.