Past Perfect Continuous (I had been doing)

 

Study this example situation.

 

Yesterday morning I got up and looked out the window. The sun was shining, but the ground was very wet.

It had been raining.

 

it wasn't raining when I looked out the window; the sun was shining. But it had been raining. That's why the ground was wet.

 

Had been raining is the past perfect continuous tense.

I / he / she (etc.) had (= I'd / he'd / she'd, etc.) been doing.

 

Here are some more examples.

• When the boys came into the house, their clothes were dirty, their hair was a mess, and one had a black eye. They had been fighting.
• I was very tired when I arrived home. I'd been working hard all day.

You can use the past perfect continuous to say how long something had been happening before something else happened.

• The soccer game had to be stopped. They had been playing for half an hour when there was a terrible storm.
• Ken had been smoking for 30 years when he finally gave it up.

 

The past perfect continuous (I had been doing) is the past of the present perfect continuous (I have been doing). Compare.

Present                                            Past

How long have you been waiting? | How long had you been waiting

         (until now)                              |     when the bus finally came?

He's out of breath. He has been      | He was out of breath. He had

running.                                          | been running.

 

Compare the past perfect continuous (I had been doing) with the past continuous (I was doing).

• When I looked out the window, it had been raining. (= It wasn't raining when I looked out; it has stopped.)
• When I looked out the window, it was raining. (= Rain was falling at the time I looked out.)

Some verbs (for example, Know) cannot be used in the continuous form.