PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
From the title, we can say that the ‘action’ here is in continuous form. So ‘ing’ form of the verb is used here. When ‘ing’ form is used, ‘Be’ forms should be there as auxiliary verbs, to show in which tense the verb is continuing. Here, from the title, we can understand that the past perfect form of ‘Be’, that is ‘had been’, should be used as auxiliary verb with ‘ing’ form of the verb ( V+ing) .
With these facts, we can make the pattern of Past Perfect continuous tense as shown below,
S + had + been + V+ing + O
As there is only one ‘had’ here, we don’t have to concern about the ‘numbers’ of the subjects.
So, we have studied how to write a sentence in past perfect continuous tense.
Now, let’s look at the usage of the past perfect continuous tense shown below.
Past perfect continuous tense is used to show an action that started in the past, then continued for some time and finally completed in the past tense itself.
Eg: Jacob had been watching the movie from 7 P.M to 10 P.M.
S ( Jacob) + had + been + watch+ing + O ( the movie)
From this example, we can understand that the subject ‘Jacob’ started his action ‘watching’ at 7 P.M., then he continued his action for some time, and finally completed it at 10 P.M.
Another example,
James and his friends had been working in Dubai from 1999 to 2004.
S ( James and his friends) + had + been + work+ing