What is the function of the past perfect continuous tense?
The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past. The past perfect continuous tense is constructed using had been + the verb’s present participle (root + -ing).
How do you teach past perfect continuous tense?
Introducing the Past Perfect Continuous
- Duration of a Past Activity.
- Result of a Past Activity.
- Use in the Third Conditional Form.
- Explaining the Past Perfect Continuous on the Board.
- Subject + had + been + verb(ing) + objects.
What is the past perfect continuous tense formula?
The formula for writing the past perfect continuous tense is: had + been + present participle.
What is past perfect continuous tense examples?
I had been writing articles on various topics for three hours. He had been reading different kinds of books since morning. They had been playing football in that field before it started to rain. Jane had been gossiping in the coffee shop for two hours.
How do you use past perfect and past perfect continuous?
Past perfect continuous emphasises a continuing or ongoing action. We use the past perfect simple to refer to the completion of an activity and the past perfect continuous to focus on the activity and duration of the activity. I’d waited an hour for the bus.
What is the structure of past continuous tense?
The past continuous tense is formed by combining the past tense of to be (i.e., was/were) with the verb’s present participle (-ing word).
What are the 16 tenses in English?
16 Tenses in English Grammar (Formula and Examples)
- Simple Present Tense.
- Present Continuous Tense.
- Present Perfect Tense.
- Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
- Simple Past Tense.
- Past Continuous Tense.
- Past Perfect Tense.
- Past Perfect Continuous Tense.
What is the difference between past perfect and past continuous?
Both actions happen at the same time but one action, the short one, interrupts the other one. The difference with the past perfect continuous is that it expresses an action in progress before a particular moment in the past. I had been studying when you arrived.
How do you teach the past perfect?
Another way to help your students use the past perfect is by asking them to complete sentences like the following:
- She was late for work because she…………..
- They talked about the film they…………..
- She read the letter her husband ………..
- The teacher was satisfied with the essay he…………..
- They ate the chicken their mother………………
What is the purpose of the past perfect continuous tense?
The Past Perfect Continuous has two main functions. To emphasize the duration of an activity that was in progress before another activity or time in the past. For example, I had been waiting for them for thirty minutes before they finally showed up.
What does the past perfect progressive tense mean?
The past perfect continuous tense (also known as the past perfect progressive tense) shows that an action that started in the past continued up until another time in the past.
What does the past tense in a sentence mean?
Remind them that the past tense clause expresses some kind of interruption into another activity which is the continuous clause. The interruption didn’t necessarily stop the continuous action, and most likely the continuous action still continued.
How is the past continuous tense used to show causation?
We can use the past continuous tense in a similar way to show causation, but the difference is that the past continuous describes an action that finished just now or very recently, while the past perfect continuous describes an action that may have finished further in the past.