Talk a Lot Intermediate Book Notes on Intermediate Verb Forms Past Perfect Continuous = two past actions – one is continuous Time of action: Past When we need to use it? To describe a continuous action in the past that happened before another past action To set the scene To give background information - I’d been hoping for an A in Maths, but I got a B - She’d been expecting Trevor at seven, so she was annoyed when he arrived at quarter to eight How is it formed? 1st clause: had (aux.) + been + present participle (-ing verb); 2nd clause: (often) past simple Contractions in spoken English: I had been Ö I’d been L]ÇKÄfåL= She had been Ö She’d been Lp]\KÄfåL Examples: Positive Form The children had been swimming all day, so when they got home they were absolutely exhausted Negative Form The children hadn’t been swimming all day, so… Question Form Had the children been swimming all day? Answers: Yes, they had / No, they hadn’t Passive form: Rare, but possible, e.g The documents had been being prepared since… [they had been “in the process of” being prepared since…] Used with state verbs? No, e.g I’d been liking playing the guitar = I’d liked playing the guitar Tips: • This is a good form for showing cause and effect, e.g “Something had been happening, so something else happened.” For more fun worksheets, games, and quizzes log onto www.englishbanana.com now!