The Past Perfect Continuous (Past Perfect Progressive) is used to talk about actions that began in the past and lasted up until another action in the past.
Duration of a past action up to a certain point in the past
Third conditional sentencesReported speech*
Note:Use 1 contains Use 3. This means that Use 1 is also valid in the sentences marked with Use 3.
The PPC is involved when the original tense is the Present Perfect Continuous or the Past Continuous.
"she has been crying" - she said she had been crying
"she was crying" - she said she had been crying
Reported Speech
In the English language reported speech affects the sequence of tenses, if the main clause is in the past ("I said", "She asked"). It applies to some of the tenses.
Original tense
Reported tense
Example
Present Simple
Past Simple
"I work here" - He said he worked there
Present Continuous
Past Continuous
"She is dancing" - He said he was dancing
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
"I have never been to Alaska" - He said he had never been to Alaska
Present Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous "Jane has been driving for 8 hours" - He said that Jane had been driving for 8 hours
Past Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous "I was singing" - He said that he had been singing
Past Simple
Past Perfect
"I saw you in the mall" - She said that she had seen him in the mall
will
would
"You will thank me" - She said that he would thank her
Changes in time and place words
Original word
Reported word
Example
here
there
"I work here" - He said he worked there
this
that
"What are you doing this weekend?" - He asked what she was doing that weekend
now
then
"He's praying now" - She said he was praying then
yesterday
the day before
"I saw you yesterday" - He said that he had seen him the day before
tomorrow
the day before
"I will repair my bike tomorrow" - He said that he would repair her bike the day after
last week
the week before
next week
the week after
ago
before
"I was born 30 years ago" - He said that he had been born 30 years before
Declarative sentences:
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When I looked at her, I knew she had been crying. (Use 1)
I had been running for an hour when it started raining. (Use 1)
Mary said she had never been swimming so much in one day. (Use 3)
Kathy put on weight because she had been eating too much sugar. (Use 1)
Everything had been going well in my life until my world fell apart several months ago. (Use 1)
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He said he had been training. (Use 3)
Questions:
What is inversion?
Inversion involves swapping (inverting) the position of an auxiliary verb and subject in a sentence. The most common use of inversion is forming interrogative sentences (questions).
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Sentence Question
Earth is small compared to ther planets Is Earth small compared to other planets?I am thirsty Am I thirsty?My name is Is my name Mark?
If there is no auxiliary verb in the sentence, one needs to be added when you invert the word order.
Sentence Question
Earth is small compared to ther planets Is Earth small compared to other planets?I am thirsty Am I thirsty?My name is Is my name Mark?Andrew had problems with health Did Andrew have problems with health?It belongs to Emma Does it belong to Emma?She looked tired Did she look tired?
Inversion is also used in emphasizing and in conditional sentences .
For how many hours had Fred been painting the house when the ladder fell? (Use 1)
How long had the player been playing before he scored? (Use 1)
The difference between the Present Perfect Continuous and Past Perfect Continuous
The Past Perfect Continuous, in contrast to the Present Perfect Continuous, never expresses actions that continue up until now.
He has been playing for two hours. (He is still playing or he has just stopped.)
He had been playing for two hours when I arrived. (He is not playing football now.)
Negative sentences:
He said he wasn't tired because he hadn't been working that day. (Use 3)
If it hadn't been raining, we would have played football. (Use 2)
Had I not been studying all night, I would have problems with this test now. (Use 2)
Check your understanding!
