Pelajari situasi berikut:
Yesterday morning I got up and looked out of the window. The sun was shining but the ground was very wet.
It has been raining.
It was not raining when I looked out of the window; the sun was shining. But it had been raining before. That’s why the ground was wet.
Had been -ing is the past perfect continuous:
I/we/you/they + had + been + verb (-ing)
he/she/it + had + been + verb (-ing)
Contoh lain:
- When the boys came into the house, their house were dirty, their hair was untidy and one of them had a black eye. They 'd been working hard all day.
Anda bisa mengatakan bahwa sesuatu had been happening untuk beberapa waktu sebelum sesuatu yang lain terjadi:
- Our game of tennis was interrupted. We’d been playing for about half an hour when it started to rain very heavily.
- Ken gave up smoking two years ago. He’d been smoking for 30 years.
Had been -ing (past perfect continuous) adalah bentuk masa lampau dari have been -ing (past perfect continuous).
Bandingkan:
Preset perfect continuous
- I hope the bus comes soon. I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes. (sebelum sekarang)
- He’s out of breath. He has been running.
Past perfect continuous
- At last the bus came. I’d been waiting for 20 minutes. (before the bus came)
- He was out of breath. He had been running.
Bandingkan had been doing and was doing (past continuous):
- It wasn’t raining when we went out. The sun was shining. But it had been raining, so the ground was wet.
- Ann was sitting in an armchair watching television. She was tired because she’d been working very hard.
Sumber:
Murphy, Raymond. 1994. English Grammar In Use Second Edition. Syndicate Press: University of Cambridge.