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Past-Perfect Progressive Verb Tense

Past-perfect progressive verbs express continuing actions that ended at some point in the past or that ended before another past action.

The past perfect-progressive tense is created with the auxiliary verbs

had been plus a present participle (verb with an ing ending).

I had been studying last night in the library when the fire alarm went off.

Susan and Jacob had been working on their project earlier.

Leo had been jogging regularly, but he stopped because the weather

turned cold.

Scientists had been researching a cure for the disease, but their funding ran

out.

The children had been playing tag when their parents called for them.