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In the preceding examples, the verbs had been waiting and had been thinking are inthe Past Perfect Continuous tense, and the verbs received and called are in the SimplePast. The use of the Past Perfect Continuous tense indicates that the actions of waitingand thinking were continuous, and were completed by the time the actions expressedby the verbs in the Simple Past took place.b. FormationThe Past Perfect Continuous tense is formed from the Past Perfect of the auxiliary tobe, followed by the present participle of the verb. For example, the Past PerfectContinuous tense of the verb to work is conjugated as follows:I had been workingyou had been workinghe had been workingshe had been workingit had been workingwe had been workingthey had been workingThe auxiliary had is often contracted to 'd in spoken English.See Exercise 7.c. Questions and negative statementsAs is the case with other English tenses, questions and negative statements in the PastPerfect Continuous tense are formed using the first auxiliary.Questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject. For example:Affirmative StatementI had been working.They had been working.Qu estionHad I been working?Had they been working?Negative statements are formed by placing the word not after the first auxiliary. Forexample:Affirmative StatementI had been working.They had been working.Negative StatementI had not been working.They had not been working.Negative questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject, and theword not after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted formof not follows immediately after the first auxiliary. For example:Without ContractionsHad I not been working?Had they not been working?With ContractionsHadn't I been working?Hadn't they been working?