Present and Past Perfect Continuous
The present perfect continuous ('has/have been' plus a verb ending in '-ing') describes an action that started in the past and is still continuing or has only just stopped, while the past perfect continuous ('had been' plus '-ing') describes an ongoing action that finished before another point in the past. Both are taught at KS3 to show duration precisely.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Decide whether the action is still happening now (or has just stopped) or was happening before another past event.
- For an action continuing up to now, use 'has/have been' plus the verb ending in '-ing', for example 'She has been studying.'
- For an action that was ongoing before another past action, use 'had been' plus the verb ending in '-ing', for example 'She had been studying before the exam started.'
- Check subject-verb agreement: use 'has been' with he/she/it and 'have been' with I/you/we/they.
- Look for time markers that signal each tense, such as 'for', 'since' and 'recently' for the present perfect continuous, and 'before', 'by the time' and 'until' for the past perfect continuous.
- Re-read the sentence to confirm the tense matches the timeline of events being described.
Worked example
Choose the correct tense to complete this sentence: 'By the time the fire brigade arrived, the flames ___ (burn) for over an hour.'
- Identify the two events: the fire brigade arriving (past) and the flames burning (an earlier, ongoing past action).
- Since the burning was happening before the fire brigade arrived, the earlier action needs the past perfect continuous.
- Form the past perfect continuous: 'had been' plus the '-ing' form of 'burn', which is 'burning'.
- Insert it into the sentence: 'By the time the fire brigade arrived, the flames had been burning for over an hour.'
- Check the time marker 'by the time' confirms the past perfect continuous is correct here.
Practice questions
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Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Complete the sentence with the correct form of the verb in brackets, using the present perfect continuous: 'She ___ (practise) the piano for two hours.'
Write one sentence using the past perfect continuous to describe an action that was ongoing before a specific past event, then explain why this tense (rather than the simple past) is the correct choice.
Rewrite this pair of sentences as one sentence using the past perfect continuous to show the correct sequence of events: 'The rain stopped. It had rained for three days without a break.'
Free printable worksheet
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