过去完成进行时

表示一个动作从过去某时开始，一直延续到另一个过去时刻，到那个时刻，该动作可能刚刚终止，也有可能还在继续。

形式

had been + V-ing形式

用法

1.表示过去某一时间之前一直进行的动作。

I had been looking for it for days before I found it. 这东西我找了好多天才找着的。

They had only been waiting for the bus a few moments when it came. 他们只等了一会儿车就来了。

2.表示反复的动作。

He had been mentioning your name to me. 他过去多次向我提到过你的名字。

You had been giving me everything. 你对我真是有求必应。

3.过去完成进行时还常用于间接引语中

The doctor asked what he had been eating. 医生问他吃了什么。

I asked where they had been staying all those days. 我问他们那些天是呆在哪儿的。

4.过去完成进行时之后也可接具有“突然”之意的when分句。

I had only been reading a few minutes when he came in. 我刚看了几分钟他就进来了。

I had been sleeping when my friend telephone me. 我正在睡觉时，我的朋友给我打电话。

特别含义

1.尚未完成：He had been writing the novel.(He had not finished it yet.)

2.企图：He had been studying the meaning of this proverb.(He was trying to study it.)

3.未得结果：We had been studying what our enemy had said.(But we were not able to understand it.)

4.最近情况：He had been quarrelling with his wife.(lately)

5.反复动作：He had been asking me the same question.(Many times)

6.情绪：What had he been doing?(不耐烦)