Past Perfect Continuous

Duration Before Something in the Past

We use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. "For five minutes" and "for two weeks" are both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous. Notice that this is related to the Present Perfect Continuous; however, the duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in the past.

Examples:

• They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.
• She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business.
• How long had you been waiting to get on the bus?
• Mike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work.
• James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia.
• A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved to Ankara?
  B: I had not been studying Turkish very long.

Exercise 2. Using the words in brackets, complete the text below with the appropriate tenses.

I'm sorry I left without you last night, but I told you to meet me early because the show started at 8:00. I________ (try) to get tickets for that play for months and I didn't want to miss it. By the time I finally left the coffee shop where we were supposed to meet, I________ (have) five cups of coffee and I________ (wait) over an hour. I had to leave because I________ (arrange) to meet Kathy in front of the theater.

When I arrived at the theater, Kathy________ (pick, already) up the tickets and she was waiting for us near the entrance. She was really angry because she________ (wait) for more than half an hour. She said she________ (give, almost) up and________ (go) into the theater without us.

Kathy told me you________ (be) late several times in the past and that she would not make plans with you again in the future. She mentioned that she________ (miss) several movies because of your late arrivals. I think you owe her an apology. And in the future, I suggest you be on time!

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