Grammar › Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous: wh-questions
450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten
Question word, then had, then the subject, then been and the -ing form.
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Getting your first question ready.
The usual order
Five slots: question word — had — subject — been — the -ing form.
Why had the alarm been ringing?
How long had
The question this tense exists for. It asks about a stretch that had already run by a past point:
By the time he resigned, how long had he been working there?
The answer takes for with a length or since with a starting point.
When who is the subject
Nothing swaps, and the question usually carries an accusation:
- Who had been smoking in here?
- What had been causing the noise?
In reported speech
Reporting pushes the question back into normal order, and the tense cannot step back any further — it is already as far back as English goes:
- direct: How long had they been waiting?
- reported: She asked how long they had been waiting.
All forms
| Question word | Example | Asking about |
|---|---|---|
| How long | How long had she been working there? | the duration |
| What | What had they been doing? | the activity |
| Where | Where had he been staying? | the place |
| Why | Why had she been crying? | the reason |
| Who | Who had been using the car? | the person — see below |
Examples
Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- What had the band been playing before the power went off?
- How long had you been doing this job before you quit?
- Who had she been living with before moving to a new city?
- How long had they been waiting for the bus before it finally arrived?
- How long had they been working on the project before they realized they were doing it wrong?
- Where had you been studying before you fell asleep?
- Who had he been traveling with before he traveled solo?
- Why had he been looking for hours before he finally found his keys?
- Who had he been practicing with before he started his own band?
- Who had she been staying with before she moved to another city?
- When had the class been preparing for the test before the exam?
- How long had she been writing letters to him before they met?
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: How long you had been waiting? correct: How long had you been waiting?
Had goes before the subject.
Wrong: How long had you been knowing him? correct: How long had you known him?
Know is a state verb and takes the plain Past Perfect.