The Present Perfect denotes a completed action while with the Present Perfect Continuous Exclusive there is an implication of incompleteness.
He has made some experiments.
.
He has been making experiments.
.
Why are your lips black? I have been eating blackberries. I have eaten a
whole plateful.
. .
She is walking up and down the room thinking of the letter she has been
writing and wondering how she should finish it.
She is going to post the letter she has just written.
THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
The formation of the Past Perfect Continuous.
1. The Past Perfect Continuous is formed by means of the Past Perfect of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle I of the notional verb.
2. In the interrogative form the first auxiliary verb is placed before the subject.
In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the first auxiliary verb.
| Affirmative | Interrogative | Negative |
| I had been writing | Had I been writing? | I had not been writing |
| He had been writing | Had he been writing? | He had not been writing |
| She had been writing | Had she been writing? | She had not been writing |
| We had been writing | Had we been writing? | We had not been writing |
| You had been writing | Had you been writing? | You had not been writing |
| They had been writing | Had they been writing? | They had not been writing |
3. The contracted affirmative forms are:
Id been writing
Shed been writing
The contracted negative forms are:
I hadnt been writing
We hadnt been writing
4. The negative-interrogative forms are:
{Had he not been writing?
Hadnt he been writing?
{Had you not been writing?
Hadnt you been writing?
The use of the Past Perfect Continuous.
We distinguish two uses of the Past Perfect Continuous: the Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive and the Past Perfect Continuous Exclusive.
1. The Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive denotes an action which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to that moment and was still going on at that moment. Either the starting point of the action is indicated or the whole period of duration. The preposition for is used to denote the whole period of duration. Since is used to indicate the starting point of the action.
We could not go out because it had been raining since early morning.
We could not go out because it had been raining for two hours.
He had been entertaining at restaurants for thirty years and he knew how to
assure the smooth passage of the meal. (Bennett)
As has been stated above (see 21), the Past Perfect Inclusive isused to express an action which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to that moment and was still going on at that moment, with verbs not admitting of the Continuous form, in negative sentences and with certain non-terminative verbs.
|
|
|
With verbs not admitting of the Continuous form the Past Perfect Inclusive is the only tense possible.
In negative sentences the Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive can be used, but it is far less common than the Past Perfect Inclusive.
With certain non-terminative verbs both the Past Perfect Inclusive and the Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive are used.
He said he had worked for twenty years. (The fact is emphasized.)
He said he had been working for a long time without achieving final results. (The process is emphasized.)
The Past Perfect Continuous Inclusive is rendered in Russian by the past imperfective.
I had been reading about an hour when he came.
, .
2. The Past Perfect Continuous Exclusive denotes an action which was no longer going on at a definite moment in the past, but which had been in progress not long before.
I sobbed a little still, but that was because I had been crying, not because I
was crying then. (Dickens)
