What is the past perfect progressive

If you want to talk about two different tenses in the past where one tense is further back than the other and the length significant is, you have to use the past perfect progressive.

But there are a few things you need to know before you can use it.

Creating a sentence

  • simple past
  • had been + -ing attached at the verb ending

Examples:

They had been dancing for two hours before they took a break.

We had been eating at a restaurant before we went to the cinema.

 


Signal words

before, after

(often plus "for")

Example:

He had a headache after he had been drinking the night before.