How to Use Past Perfect Continuous in English Basic English Grammar
I think it’s rolling hi everybody and
welcome back to our weekly live stream
my name is Alisha and today we’re going
to talk about past perfect continuous
past perfect continuous is a topic many
of you have asked me about especially
recently so I’ve decided to make a
lesson on it we are going to cover when
to use it and how to use it and a couple
of pronunciation points as well okay so
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today’s topic is past perfect continuous
past perfect continuous so while we wait
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today’s topic is past perfect continuous
past perfect continuous there might be a
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so while we wait I will at least show
you today’s lesson boards this is what
we’re going to cover in today’s lesson
if you’re watching on YouTube so today
I’m going to cover past perfect
continuous I’m going to talk about when
to use this one to how we make it and
three how we use it with past tense so
we’re going to practice putting
sentences together with this grammar
point so for some reason hmm it seems
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get started with the first part of
today’s lesson them so first the first
thing I want to talk about with today’s
lesson is when we use past perfect
continuous when we use it so this is a
grammar point that many people ask there
they say like what’s the difference
between this and
like past just continuous so we’re going
to first talk about when we need to use
this grammar point okay so let’s get
started here first I’m going to cover
these two uses of past perfect
continuous in today’s lesson so first
first use of this grammar point is to
express a continuing past action that
was interrupted a continuing past action
that was interrupted or the action
changed it had to stop something like
that so we can imagine this on a time
line here is a time line will use this
for today’s lesson where we see the past
going to the future and this is now the
present so we can imagine use one here
as like a continuing action this line
here is a continuing action and then
there’s some change or some interruption
that happens right here so we use past
perfect continuous to describe this
action something that was continuing in
the past I’ll talk about this part later
we use simple past tense to express this
change or this interruption so this is
the first use second for today is we use
past perfect continuous to express a
continuing past actions relationship to
another past action to another past
action so that means that there are two
actions one is continuing and another
action is related here is a blue line so
again in the past there’s my continuing
action there’s some related past action
here also in the past but the continuing
action maybe doesn’t stop so we use this
second one too often to express like a
cause-and-effect kind of relationship so
these are the two situations the two
uses we’re going to cover
in today’s lesson okay so let’s take a
look at two examples sentences that kind
of show these two meanings first one is
this one number one I had been studying
for three hours when the phone rang I
had been studying for three hours when
the phone rang so this sentence
expresses a continuing action I had been
studying this right here is my past
perfect continuous part this part for
three hours this shows how long the
action continued when marks this part
the change or the interruption finally
the phone rang this is a simple past
tense expression this is the change or
the interruption so all of today’s
example sentences will follow this
pattern of present
I’m sorry past perfect continuous
duration interruption or change point or
some point like this and then a simple
past tense action so let’s look at one
more example here this example at the
bottom of the board so first our first
second I had been working at Google so
continuing action for about three years
when I started thinking about quitting
when I started thinking about quitting
so again this is my past continuing
action I had been working at Google so
here past continuing action working at
Google for about three years so this is
the duration of the continuing action
when marks this change or marks this
kind of something related happens I
started thinking about quitting so here
it started I started is past tense I
started thinking about quitting so these
are the
these are when we use examples of when
we use this grammar point past perfect
continuous so this kind of interruption
or change or kind of cause-and-effect
relationship is really important for
this grammar point okay so if you have
any questions you can send them to me in
the chat alright so that is part one for
today’s lesson it’s kind of it’s a
little bit of a challenging grammar
point I think all right but we’ll take
one quick break and then continue on to
part two for today’s lesson if you’re
just joining today’s lesson topic is
past perfect continuous I will show you
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let’s go back to today’s lesson flow
today’s lesson flow past perfect
continuous so I talked about when to use
past perfect continuous
now we’re going to talk about part two
here how to make past perfect continuous
so we’re going to do Oh apparently
there’s some kind of strange audio that
started in
background just a moment sorry everybody
mmm not sure what that is interesting uh
sorry
hey just a second everybody I hear
there’s some kind of strange audio if
you hear some strange audio I’m trying
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all right okay get rid of these all
right so it seems that the audio is gone
sorry about that if you heard something
strange I don’t know what it was
okay so let’s continue to part two for
today’s lesson so how to make past
perfect continuous how to make it so
this will be kind of I hope a review
point for this point or for this grammar
today so how do we make past perfect
continuous okay I have this in two parts
we’re going to talk about statements and
then we’re going to talk about questions
and then at the end of this part we’ll
talk about pronunciation and spelling a
bit too okay so first let’s look at how
we make statements a past perfect
continuous statement we use subject plus
had bin plus the ing form of a verb so
continuous or progressive form of a verb
so here are a bunch of examples so I had
been studying as we looked at before or
he had been working or we had been
sleeping or it had been raining so this
it’s this refers to the weather we use
it when we talk about the weather so all
of the past perfect continuous parts of
today’s lesson will follow this pattern
and we’re making a statement so for this
grammar we don’t need to worry about
like he has or she has patterns because
this part this had this is
passed past so we don’t need to worry
about using has in this grammar so this
part the ing part of the verb is the
part we need to change okay so this is
how we make statements with past perfect
continuous I want to talk now about
questions questions how do we make
questions there are two patterns here
the first one is with it starts with
this wh question so wh question means
like who or where or who what where when
why how so we can start our question
with this then we use had after that is
our subject so this is different from
our statement pattern yeah had subject
bin ing verb so this pattern is
different from this pattern your
question pattern and your statement
pattern are different please be careful
so for example what had he been eating
what had he been eating or where had
they been going where had they been
doing so this this pattern these are
information questions we want to get
some kind of information we need we need
an answer some information to answer
these questions if you want to make a
yes-or-no question remove this remove
the WH question and it makes a yes or no
pattern like this one had she been
sleeping had she been sleeping so this
makes a simple yes or no answer had she
been sleeping yes she had so this is how
we make simple yes and no questions
Edwyn can we make a negative statement
yes yes you can to make this negative I
didn’t have a lot of space but I’ll
include it on the board now to make a
negative we put right here when you make
a statement before bin so subject had
not been to make it negative
put knot right here I had not been
studying or been so this is how we make
negatives negatives are maybe not as
common as a positive statement with this
grammar point you might hear it from
time to time I suppose but this is how
we make a negative statement yeah okay
ah good good good some examples are
coming in on YouTube Jose says what have
they been doing all this time
good good so or maybe what have they
been doing all that time maybe would
sound a little bit more natural there
okay so this is how we make questions
and how we make statements let’s go now
to this part at the bottom pronunciation
and spelling I want to spend some time
talking about these points today
pronunciation spelling first with your
statement pattern so like I had he had
we had she had and so on when you’re
speaking and when you’re writing we
reduce these so I had becomes I’d he had
becomes he’d she had become she’d it had
becomes
itted it’ld that’s what it sounds like
so for example I had been studying at
native speed sounds like I’d been
studying we had been working sounds like
we’d been working so he had been working
sounds like he’d been working or she’d
been working we had been sleeping sounds
like we’d been sleeping it had been
raining sounds like it had been raining
it had been raining so please try in
your speech and you can do this in your
writing to use these reduced forms this
is going to sound much more natural a
lot more natural than if you use these
this is still correct yes but it sounds
kind of stiff so you’ll sound much more
natural if you use these reduced forms
okey let’s go to the next one the next
part is about questions over here on
this side of the board when you make
your questions you can also reduce this
hag sound like we did up here but we
don’t really use this when we’re writing
so for your spelling this part is okay
to use but when you are writing and
you’re using these kinds of question
patterns it’s generally better to write
had not the reduced form so this is a
point this is a tip for your
pronunciation only so what had becomes
what did what did or where had becomes
weird why had becomes wide for example
what had he been eating becomes what had
he been eating and where had they been
going becomes weird they’ve been going
this one we don’t reduce because there’s
no question word here at the beginning
just had she been sleeping so please
note again this is a point for
pronunciation only you can you can use
this if you’re like text messaging with
your friends or something like that
these are like there’s no communication
problem but if you’re writing like an
email at work or something like you know
if you’re trying to do something
politely it’s better to use this OOP
sorry this okay
alright so this is part two I’m going to
come and look at your questions now
Natalia on YouTube says what’s the
difference between I had been and I have
been I had been this is today’s grammar
point I had been is a past perfect one
so past perfect if you missed part one
past perfect we use to talk about past
continuing actions I have been is a
present perfect pattern we use that to
talk about actions that started in the
past and continue to the present there
are some videos on our channel about
that
okay some other examples are coming in
Conwell GTA says I’d been struggling to
learn English when I maybe when I found
Alicia’s videos mm yeah so it’s quite
common I talked about this and I’m going
to talk about this in part 3 it’s very
common to include a like a duration of
time for example for three hours or for
a long time when so this will be in part
three of today’s lesson okay Lenna
says what’s the difference between I
would and I’d oh yeah this is a very
common question thanks for pointing that
out so a lot of learners ask how do I
know the difference how do I know when
this is I had or I would like yes when
we use the reduced form they both become
ID in this example right so how do you
know the key here is to look at the word
after so I had been so when you see this
bin like it’s always going to be been in
this grammar pattern you know it’s past
perfect continuous when you have an I
would like pattern for example to make a
request like I would like a coffee
please after after the would I’d like a
coffee please you have a regular verb
like an infinitive verb dictionary forms
work so we know it’s not a past perfect
continuous we always follow this pattern
with bin so to find out to determine to
know what kind of it is is it is it
sorry is it had is it would look at what
comes after that and at first you’ll
think oh this takes so long but with
time and practice especially with
reading reading really really helps with
this it will gradually come to get this
more naturally okay Lucas on YouTube
says I’d been studying English grammar
for two hours when I got hungry very
nice good good good
could you give another example for past
perfect
yes I will give you more more examples
in part three we’ll get there in just a
minute
Edwin says I have been playing my guitar
for two hours when my mother called me
perfect perfect okay
Lubner says what is the difference
between past perfect continuous and the
past continuous yeah so a key with this
past perfect continuous we use this to
mark like these changes or these
interruptions generally so you can say
for example like in this one I was
studying like that’s a past perfect
expression so but when we use this
grammar point it’s kind of we want to
show some relationship between our
continuing action and another past
action okay
okay I have to continue on to part three
so I hope that this will answer some of
the questions that I see coming in if
you missed it I will show you today’s
lesson boards one more time but I’m past
perfect continuous so we talked about
when to use past perfect continuous we
talked about how to make it and some
pronunciation and spelling points
finally today we’re going to talk about
how to use it with past tense so I’m
going to go through a four-step process
to make a past perfect continuous
sentence we’re going to practice this
together now so please get ready to send
me your examples in the jet okay
so let’s take a look at these I’ve made
four steps I think maybe one of them two
of them are very very easy so I hope you
can easily make an example sentence
today so let’s take a look use with past
tense so we use past perfect continuous
to show our continuing action and then
we put it together with a simple past
tense action so that shows us something
has changed okay
please don’t flood the chat so that
everyone can participate so flood the
chat means sending lots of messages in
what time okay so step one in this
process is I had been as we practiced so
for this practice our subject is I let’s
make it easy I had been plus verb in the
ing form this is step one so to make
your sentence I had been something
ing step two it’s to choose for or since
so if you’ve studied a present perfect
present perfect continuous you know this
to review choose for or since for before
a length of time like three hours or two
days or a year a length of time or use
since referring to a point in time
Tuesday or last weekend or
July last year so please choose one of
these generally I feel like four is a
little bit more common with this pattern
so I had been blah blah blah in for
length of time step three
when please do not use while why not we
use while generally in present tense
expressions to talk about two things
happening at the same time here in this
practice in today’s grammar point we are
using when because when marks the change
point or some interruption point or that
something new happens we are not talking
about two things happening at the same
time together so you cannot use while
here please use went so I had been
something something something for some
length of time when final step number
four simple past tense statement so
finish your sentence with a simple past
tense statement so when I say simple
past tense I mean make a make a
statement with just a simple past tense
verb so let’s look at three examples of
this I will break down each of these
first one I had been teaching a lesson
online for 15 minutes when my internet
connection suddenly died so died here
means it was cut off it stopped
this is a casual way to express that
something turned off unexpectedly like
your phone so what’s happening in this
sentence I had been teaching there
here’s step one I had been in right here
I had been teaching so I’ll mark this
part I had in teaching oops I I have
been teaching a lesson online so I have
some extra information here I had been
teaching a lesson online here’s my
continuing past action
for 15 minutes this is the duration of
my action how long it was when so this
marks my interruption something happened
it’s tells us this my internet
connection suddenly died my internet
connection suddenly died simple past
tense so died is the past tense of die
so when my internet connection suddenly
died so these are all four parts in this
sentence okay so try to send me your
example in the chat and I will try to
check in between present continuous and
past continuous I don’t have any present
versus past prepared for today because
they’re kind of we use them in some
different ways mmm
but I do have some lessons about present
continuous on the channel I will put a
link in the YouTube description so you
can check that later okay okay let’s
continue to part two some of your
examples are coming in John Jean says I
had been watching a a video about
Italian language for 30 minutes when
it’s the chats going too fast when your
online class started a point I had been
blah blah blah ing make sure this part
comes before this part so don’t put your
for or since before this so first is
this expression okay let’s go to part 2
we’d been looking for a new apartment
for months when the perfect place became
available in our neighborhood okay so
what’s happening here we’d been looking
for a new apartment we’ve been looking
for a new apartment this weed is that we
had I talked about earlier
so here’s my continuing past action for
months this is my duration months so
several months many months when marks my
interruption the perfect place became
available in our neighborhood the
perfect place became available so became
is my simple past tense verb okay some
of your questions Jha ki says what’s the
difference between I have been and I had
been so I answered it briefly earlier I
have been is a present perfect
continuous structure today we’re talking
about past perfect past perfect relates
to continuing actions in the past
present perfect relates to actions that
started in the past and continued to the
present I have again I have lessons
those of you who are asking about
present perfect I have some lessons that
I will put a link to after after this
live on YouTube can I use before or
after in past perfect yes can you you
can yes no there’s a yes yes this is the
answer to that but if you have an
example that would be very helpful how
do I know if I should use past perfect
or past perfect continuous please watch
the first part of today’s lesson the
first part of today’s lesson where I
talked about when to use so it’s all
there please read this is being recorded
please check it later okay let’s go to
part three because I’m late again okay
lesson they’d been sleeping peacefully
for a few hours when a thunderstorm woke
them up
mmm so what’s happening here again
they’ve been sleeping peacefully so that
was the continuing past action how long
for a few hours for a few hours when
marks the change a thunderstorm a
thunderstorm woke them up woke them up
so here’s my past tense verb right here
woke um okay so all of these examples
are showing some past action again this
is from part one of today’s lesson you
can re-watch it later past action
continuing action that was changed or
interrupted something happened there’s
some relationship with this past action
that’s what we use past perfect
continuous to do so if you missed this
don’t worry you can check this at the
beginning of today’s lesson Wow okay so
I have to finish there I’m somehow I’m
late every week I talk too much every
week but you have good questions
um physalis as I had been meeting new
people in the chat box for 30 minutes
when Alicia’s live classroom started
nice grammatically perfect very nice
very nice al dances as we’ve been
discussing for long when children show
we’ve been discussing if you want to use
the expression for a long time please
make sure to say that for a long time
we’ve been doing something for a long
time when this thing happened okay a
good examples Gina and Jean says I had
been playing soccer for an hour when it
started to rain perfect perfect okay
how do I use had with the negative I
talked about that in part two of today’s
lesson part two of today’s lesson I
covered negatives quickly had not been
so it should come right here had not
again check part 2 for today’s lesson
there all right I have to finish up for
today so thank you for joining me as
always next week of course I will be
back
next week’s topic is here um next lesson
is July first can you believe it started
with July oh my gosh July first I’m
going to talk about modal verbs again so
part I think I’m on part two of my modal
verbs in the past series I’m going to
talk about would have and wouldn’t have
so we talked a bit about wood today but
this will be a modal verb in the past
lesson so please join me again next week
10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time that is
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