3.4.2.

THE PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

Form: It is formed of the past perfect of the auxiliary be and the present participle of the main
verb: I had been working, etc.
Uses and values:
The past perfect progressive bears the same relation to the past perfect simple that the present
perfect progressive bears to the present perfect simple with the difference that the time of reference
is not the time of speech NOW, but some point in the past THEN.
(1) The past perfect progressive indicates an action which began before a point in the past,
continued right up to it and may have continued after. The past perfect progressive emphasizes the
duration of an activity that was in progress before another point of time or before another activity
in the past. Two time markers are required:
- an expression of time (a prepositional phrase) introduced by for or since usually accompanies
the past perfect progressive to emphasize the duration of an action that was in progress before the
start of another period or action in the past.
- The past point of time or activity before which the action expressed by the verb in the past perfect
progressive takes place. This past point of time may be indicated by:
i. an adverbial phrase introduced by the preposition by:
By that time he had been studying English for 10 years.
By May 1st I had been working (for) 3 years at my book.
ii. a clause of time (the verb in the Past Tense):
I had been waiting for my friend since 5 oclock when he finally turned up.
I had been waiting for my friend for an hour when he finally turned up.
How long had you been waiting for the bus when I met you?
Paul finally came at 7 oclock. I had been waiting for him since 5 oclock.
The police had been looking for the criminal for two years before they caught him.
How long had Mr. Brown been working before he retired?
The present perfect progressive or past tense progressive become past perfect progressive in
reported speech after a verb in the past tense in the main clause:
I have been reading for thee hours. He said he had been reading for thee hours.
Note: In temporal clauses the past tense is not changed:
When I was attending the secondary school I often met Dan.
He said that when he was attending the secondary school he (had) often met Dan.
(2) Resultative use: The past perfect progressive expresses an action begun before a given past
moment but no longer going on at that moment. The verb in the past perfect progressive explains
the cause of an effect which is expressed by a verb in the past tense. The verb in the past perfect
progressive usually occurs in adverbial clauses of cause or reason (introduced by because) to
express a previous action whose result was obvious at a certain past time:
John had a black eye because he had been fighting with the other boys.
I was very tired when I arrived home. Id been working hard all day.
He saw the doctor because he had not been feeling well.
He was carrying a hammer and nails because he had been mending the fence.
(3) A continuous, repeated action in the past:
He had been trying to get her on the phone.
He had been writing poems for 2 years when I met him.
The past perfect progressive is only used when we emphasize the continuity of the action, not
the number of times the action was performed. If the number of times is given, the past pefect
simple is used:
He had tried five times to get her on the phone.
He had written fifty poems when I met him.
Also: How long had Ann been watching TV by 10 oclock? She had been watching TV for an
hour.
 How many programmes had she watched by 10 oclock? She had watched two
programmes.