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Grammar reference

Tenses

Past Perfect Continuous

Ongoing past action leading up to another past event.

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Explanation

Form it with had been plus -ing. It emphasises duration before a moment in the past and often explains a visible past result.

Examples

  • We had been driving for hours before we stopped.
  • She had been working there for a year when the shop closed.

Common mistakes

  • I had been knowing him for years.

    I had known him for years.

    State verbs avoid the continuous.

  • We had driving for hours.

    We had been driving for hours.

    Needs been plus -ing.

More Tenses

Used To and Would for Past Habits

Past habits and states that are no longer true.

Choosing Tenses in a Narrative

Mixing past simple, past continuous and past perfect.

Present Simple

Facts, habits and timetables.

Present Continuous

Actions happening now or around now.

Present Perfect

Past action with a present result, or an unfinished period.