Past perfect continuous

Usage:

We use it when we want to say that something had been going on until a certain moment in the past.

Both actions happened in the past and no connection to present.

Examples:

He had been living in the UK for 6 years when he enrolled on a teacher training course. ( He had lived there for some time and THEN he went on a course.)

The music had been playing loudly for 2 hours when the neighbours started to complain. (First the music was playing for some time and THEN the complaining has started.)

Form:

had been + verb + ing

Examples:

The debate had been going on for some time when the last delegates arrived.

When I got home I saw that she had been crying.

They hadn’t been playing computer games any more when I came home.

He was sweaty and out of breath when I met him. Had he been running?

She had been working hard ‚till the day she had a cardiac arrest.

We had been doing homework before we went out to play.