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When should we use the past perfect continuous tense?

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Question added by Samar Saleh , Community Manager , Bayt.com
Date Posted: 2014/01/16
Saif Ur Rehman
by Saif Ur Rehman , Deputy Manager E & I , Surge Laboratory

When we need

yousef almohor
by yousef almohor , مدرس , وزارة التربية والتعليم

It is ues when we talk about sth started in the past and continued up until another time in the past.

E.g . He 's out of breath. He has been running

. You can  say that sth had been happening for a period of time before sth else happened 

Deleted user
by Deleted user

we ues the present perfect continuous when we talk about how long an action's been happening ,and it's used with "for" eg: I have been teaching for ten years / He has been playing football for five years

Ahmed Elmeligi
by Ahmed Elmeligi , English Language Teacher , Al hammad International for Projects and Development

Actually, it is used when anyone talks about an action happened and took time in the past without mentioning the exact time like " I have been doing this task for hours." this took time in the past and it may have an obvious effect now. Or to speak about an action that was going on since a certain time till now like " I have been sending letters to my friends since we finished college." I hope this could really help !! 

María Infante Chillón
by María Infante Chillón , Civil Engineer , Arco Studio

when the action began in the past; it's taking place right now and it will continue for an indefinitive period in the time

Ahmed Farouk Mohammed Helmy
by Ahmed Farouk Mohammed Helmy , Sales Executive , Sharaf DG

To reflect the event began in the past but did not end up before the occurrence of another event in the past

 

Ahmed Gendy
by Ahmed Gendy , English Senior Inspector , Ministry of Education (MoE)

It expresses something lasted for a period of time in the past and finished before something else happened.

She had been writing all day when I arrived.

It means she took all day writing and I arrived after she finished.

Aya El-Sayed Abd-Uallah Mohammed Wahdan
by Aya El-Sayed Abd-Uallah Mohammed Wahdan , المعلمة , مدرسة المستقبل الخاصة بنات

past perfect continuous used to show some thing started at the past and stayed for time then finished at the past too

 

Mohammad Rizwanul Haque
by Mohammad Rizwanul Haque , Administration Manager , Oren Hydrocarbons ME FZCo.

 

Past Perfect Continuous is used to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. The both duration in the past only.

 

And in the present perfect continuous the action continued up to now or in the present time

 

Deleted user
by Deleted user

Rarely. When we describe events un the past, which had beginng, contination and ending

Ahmed Said Mahmoud Attalah Attalla
by Ahmed Said Mahmoud Attalah Attalla , Senior master , Ministry of Education. Egypt

Usually we use the continuous tense when we want to refer to an action that was happening during a specific period of time wheather this tense was present or past .

In our case we use to refer to two events in the past but one of them was happening and continued for a while in a period of time in the past.

I had a teacher from England when I was in collage she was called Mrs Margret ,I was using tenses and used to ask her when I should use this tense or the other and which one I shoud use first, she replied me first and followed, you Egyptians want to be British than the British themselves and of course things don,t go on that way .

thanks a lot.

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