AN EXAMPLE SITUATION

HAD  +  BEEN  ►  –ING FORM

In the affirmative form, this tense can be contracted as follows: I'd, you'd, he'd, she'd, etc.

In the negative form, the only thing we need to do is to add the word NOT which can be contracted and changes into HADN'T. And after HADN'T you must include BEEN and the verb in its –ING form.

When we want to make up the interrogative, we need to change the order of words. First, we start with the auxiliary word HAD, followed by the subject, BEEN and the verb in its –ING form. 

Let us see some examples:

AFFIRMATIVE: Ann had been ('d been) working all day.

NEGATIVE: Ann had not been (hadn't been) working all day.

INTERROGATIVE: Had Ann been working all day?

You use the present perfect progressive (also called 'continuous) to indicate a situation that happened in the past but its emphasis is on the action and not the subject. Remember that whenever we use a tense with –ING, we intend to put all the attention on the action. Check this example :

Ann was very tired when she arrived home because she had been working hard all day.

EXPRESSING HOW LONG

You can use the past perfect continuous to say how long something had been happening before something else happened. Check these examples:

The soccer game had to be stopped. They had been playing for half an hour when there was a terrible storm.

Kendall had been smoking for twenty years when he finally gave it up.

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE
vs PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

The past perfect continuous (I had been doing) is the past of the present perfect continuous (I have been doing). Compare:

PRESENT:
1. How long have you been waiting? (until now)
2. He's out of breath. He has been running.

PAST:
1. How long had you been waiting when the bus came?
2. He was out of breath. He had been running.

PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE vs PAST PROGRESSIVE

Now compare the past perfect progressive (I had been doing) with the past progressive (I was doing):

When I looked out the window, it had been raining.
(= It wasn't raining when I looked out. It had stopped.)

When I looked out the window, it was raining.
(= Rain was falling at the time I looked out).

On the last page of this lesson you can practise this grammar.