The Past Perfect Progressive Tense

Add ing to most verbs. Ex. play playing, cry crying, bark barking

For verbs that end in e, remove the e and add ing. Ex: slide sliding, ride riding

For verbs that end in ie, change the ie to y and add ing. Ex: die dying, tie tying

For a verb whose last syllable is written with a consonant-vowel-consonant and is stressed, double the last letter before adding ing. Ex: beg begging, begin beginning. However: enter entering (last syllable is not stressed)

The past perfect progressive (continuous) is used to describe an action that started in the past and was still in progress when a second action started. Both actions began and ended in the past. As in the past perfect simple, the sentence has two parts:

The past perfect progressive, to refer to the action that was in process

The past simple to refer to the action that happened after the first action

Ben had been working for three hours when Rachel came home.

By the time Sam found an umbrella, it had been raining for ten minutes.

To form the past perfect progressive, use the auxiliary (helping) verb had + been + verbing (present participle).