Ask questions about the starting point of the actions according to the model.
Use the Past Perfect Continuous instead of the infinitive in brackets.
1) He looked at her. He knew she had been crying.
2) She told him about her plan, which she had been thinking of the whole morning.
3) Molly closed the book which she had been reading and looked at her friends.
4) Paul had been thinking for some time before he dared to answer.
5) How long had Tony been reading when this terrible accident happened?
6) When the lesson was over, the teacher asked the students to hand in the tests they had been writing since its beginning.
7) How long had they been waiting for a taxi before it came?
8) How long had this man been standing there and watching you before you noticed him?
9) “What are you thinking of?” he asked after he had been looking at) her a few seconds. But she didn’t answer.
10) Who had been sitting here before I came?
Express the same idea. Use the Past Perfect Continuous according to the model.
Model: We knew he had begun to play hockey years before and he was still playing it.
We knew he had been playing hockey for years.
1) Marsha said that she had started jogging 2 months before and she enjoyed jogging a lot. Marsha had been jogging for 2 months. 2) Tom looked tired when I came to see him at 5. He had started working early in the morning and was still working. Tom had been working since morning. 3) When Jack telephoned Marion, she was still busy with cleaning the flat though she had begun cleaning it 3 hours before. Marion had been cleaning the flat for 3 hours. 4) Ann’s mother said that her daughter had started looking for a job 6 months before and she was still looking for it. Anna had been looking for a job for 6 months. 5) The assistant said that Roger had begun to copy the report half and hour before and was still copying it. Roger had been copying the report for half and hour. 6) Carol remarked that she had started to explore the problem when she was a student and she was still interested in it. Carol had been remarking the problem since she was a student. 7) The boss got angry because his secretary had begun to type a letter an hour before and she was still doing it. The secretary had been typing a letter for an hour. 8) We learnt that Jeremy had begun working as a librarian 3 years before and he was still working there. Jeremy had been working as a librarian for 3 years. 9) She knew that John and his brothers had started training to climb the mountains 6 months before and they were still training. John and his brothers had been training to climb the mountains for 6 months. 10) Everybody knew that they had started building a house and they were still doing it. Everybody knew that they had been building a house.
Ask questions about the starting point of the actions according to the model.
Model: Roger began watching a football match at 7 p.m. When Jack phoned him, Roger was still watching it.
Since when had he been watching a football match, I wonder?
1) I promised Mary to come at 5. When I arrived, Mary was waiting for me but she was very annoyed as I was 30 minutes late. For how long Mary had been waiting for me? 2) They started boating at 10 a.m. When their friends came up to the beach 2 hours later, they were getting ashore. For how long they had been swimming? 3) They went to live in the south of France in 1983. When Phil visited the country 10 years later, they were still living there. Since when had they been living in France? 4) On the 1st of January my friend decided to change his way of living and started working out a plan what and how to change. When a fortnight later I visited him, he was still busy with working the plan out. For how long his friend had been working out the plan? 5) Last Monday the German team started climbing up the mountains. When on Thursday I flew to Nepal, it was still climbing up. For how long the German team had been climbing up in Nepal
