What is the Past Perfect Progressive Tense?

What Is the Past Perfect Progressive Tense? (with Examples)

Past Perfect Progressive Tense?

The past perfect progressive tense is used to show that an ongoing action in the past has ended.

Examples of the Past Perfect Progressive Tense

Here are some examples of the past perfect progressive tense (bold):

She had been painting the door before the dog scratched it.
The jury had been considering its verdict for several hours when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
He just couldn’t summon the energy. He had been working at the dock all afternoon.

Of course, you can also have a negative version:

She had not been painting the door.
The jury had not been considering its verdict for very long when the judge effectively ordered them to find Jones guilty.
He had plenty of energy. He had not been working at the dock at all that afternoon.

And the question version:

Had she been painting the door?
Had the jury been considering its verdict for very long when the judge ordered them to find Jones guilty.
Why was he so tired? Had he been working at the dock all afternoon?

Here is an infographic explaining the past perfect progressive tense:

Forming the Past Perfect Progressive Tense

The past perfect progressive tense is formed:

had been + [present participle]

For example:

The last word in each example above (i.e. the [verb] + “ing” part) is known as a present participle. It is formed like this:

Add “ing” to most verbs:

For verbs that end “e”, remove the “e” and add “ing”:

For verbs that end “ie”, change the “ie” to “y” and add “ing”:

For verbs whose last syllable is written [consonant-vowel-consonant] and is stressed, double the final consonant and add “ing”:

AGH / Jan 2020