Past Perfect Continuous Tense — Exercise 1 (Q&A with Solution’s Explanation and Enrich English with Vocabulary like British)
This practice test trains you to recognize and use the Past Perfect Continuous Tense (had + been + verb-ing form) in real contexts. Each question includes the correct past-perfect-continuous form, a short verb definition like in Oxford and Cambridge dictionary (vocabulary builder + POS notes), and detailed one-sentence explanations for every option (A–D) that tell why the option is correct or incorrect and what choosing it would mean. Practice, prepare and improve both English grammar and vocabulary.
English Grammar Definition: Past Perfect Continuous (had + been + verb-ing form)
- Form: had + been + verb-ing form.
- Examples: She had been polishing; They had been coming; Had you been starting it before?
- Main uses:
- To show an action was ongoing up to a past moment or before another past action.
- To emphasise duration or repeated activity before something in the past.
- Signal words: for X time, since, before, by the time, until, prior to, when.
- Negatives / Questions: had not (hadn’t) + been + V-ing; Had + subject + been + V-ing?
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Quiz Instructions
- Read each question and choose the best answer out of four given options.
- On top, header section of the quiz, you will see the “title of the quiz,’ ‘spending-time,’ ‘value of question in points,’ and ‘number of questions.”
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- Below the quiz box, there are explanation of each options. You can study and try again.
- Best of Luck!
Quiz Question, Answer and Explanation
Note: Do remember in the quiz box above, the questions and options will shuffle, so they won’t have the same sequence like 1, 2, 3, or A, B, C as below.
1. By the time the outage ended, the ops team __ customer reports for almost two hours.
A) had been aggregating B) aggregated C) have aggregated D) were aggregating
Verb (POS & meaning): aggregate — verb. To collect and combine items (data, reports) into a whole; aggregation (noun).
Correct: A) had been aggregating — indicates continuous collection over a period leading up to the end of the outage.
A) Why correct: Emphasises that aggregation was ongoing before and up to the outage ending; it also implies duration (“for almost two hours”).
B) Why wrong: Past simple states a completed action but does not express the ongoing nature or that it continued up to the outage ending.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect ties the action to the present, not to a specified past endpoint.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous describes action in progress at a past time but doesn’t place it clearly before another past event as the past perfect continuous does.
2. When we arrived, she __ the dataset to remove duplicates for the last thirty minutes.
A) had been deduplicating B) deduplicated C) has deduplicated D) was deduplicating
Verb: deduplicate — verb. To remove duplicate entries from a dataset; deduplication (noun).
Correct: A) had been deduplicating — stresses the ongoing clean-up that had been happening before our arrival.
A) Why correct: Shows an action occurring continuously up to the moment we arrived and emphasises duration (“for the last thirty minutes”).
B) Why wrong: Past simple reports a finished action; it would not show that the deduplication was in progress before arrival.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect would suggest present relevance, not earlier-past continuity.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous could be used, but it lacks the “prior to another past point” nuance that past perfect continuous provides.
3. Prior to the audit, the developer __ logs to reproduce the error.
A) had been replaying B) replayed C) has replayed D) was replaying
Verb: replay — verb. To run recorded events (logs) again to reproduce behavior; replay (noun).
Correct: A) had been replaying — indicates repeated/continuous attempts before the audit.
A) Why correct: Conveys ongoing effort to reproduce the bug over a period that finished before the audit started.
B) Why wrong: Past simple would only say the action happened; it would not show it was repeated or ongoing.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect implies current result or relevance, not a period of activity before a past event.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous would indicate activity at some past moment but not explicitly that it had been happening up to the audit.
4. By the time the meeting began, analysts __ anomaly trends since early morning.
A) had been charting B) charted C) have charted D) were charting
Verb: chart — verb. To map or plot data visually; chart (noun).
Correct: A) had been charting — emphasises continuous plotting from morning until the meeting.
A) Why correct: Highlights duration and continuity (“since early morning”) culminating before the meeting.
B) Why wrong: Past simple lacks the continuous/duration element.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect would anchor to present relevance; not appropriate for “by the time” context.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous doesn’t show the action was underway before another past event.
5. They __ the migration scripts for several hours before the freeze window.
A) had been iterating B) iterated C) have iterated D) were iterating
Verb: iterate — verb. To make repeated small changes to improve something; iteration (noun).
Correct: A) had been iterating — signals iterative work continued up until the freeze window.
A) Why correct: Emphasises multiple cycles of change across hours, finishing before the freeze.
B) Why wrong: Past simple would tell us it happened but not that it was a prolonged repeated process.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect implies present link; does not locate the activity before the freeze.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous suggests ongoing action at a past moment but lacks the “completed before” nuance.
6. Before the release, QA __ flaky tests and documenting flakiness all morning.
A) had been isolating B) isolated C) have isolated D) was isolating
Verb: isolate — verb. To identify and separate causes or components; isolation (noun).
Correct: A) had been isolating — shows continuous effort to identify flaky tests that occurred earlier that morning.
A) Why correct: Shows repeated/ongoing action (isolation) taking place up to the release prep point.
B) Why wrong: Past simple indicates it happened but not that it was ongoing or lengthy.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect emphasizes present implications, not prior continuous work.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks the “had been … before” relationship needed here.
7. They __ telemetry streams for hours before propagating the changes.
A) had been sampling B) sampled C) have sampled D) were sampling
Verb: sample — verb. To take representative data points from a stream for analysis; sampling (noun).
Correct: A) had been sampling — points to continuous monitoring that preceded propagation.
A) Why correct: Emphasises duration and that sampling was ongoing until propagation.
B) Why wrong: Past simple reports completion but not continuous monitoring.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect connects to now, not the earlier past.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous can show in-progress action but doesn’t stress completion before another past event.
8. By the time the incident report was filed, the security team __ suspicious IPs for two days.
A) had been blacklisting B) blacklisted C) have blacklisted D) were blacklisting
Verb: blacklist — verb. To add items to a blocklist to prevent access; blacklist (noun).
Correct: A) had been blacklisting — continuous blocking activity across two days ending before filing.
A) Why correct: Emphasises ongoing preventive measures with explicit duration.
B) Why wrong: Past simple lacks the continuous/duration emphasis.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect indicates present relevance, not prior continuous action.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous doesn’t clearly place the action prior to report filing.
9. When the CEO read the summary, the comms team __ talking to press contacts all morning.
A) had been liaising B) liaised C) have liaised D) were liaising
Verb: liaise — verb. To establish or maintain communication between groups; liaison (noun).
Correct: A) had been liaising — indicates continuous contact work earlier that morning before CEO read.
A) Why correct: Shows ongoing coordination and duration (“all morning”) that finished before the CEO read the summary.
B) Why wrong: Past simple doesn’t indicate duration or that it happened prior to the reading.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect connects to present, not to the past sequence.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous fails to express that the activity had been ongoing up to a past point.
10. They __ rollback drills repeatedly prior to the production cutover.
A) had been rehearsing B) rehearsed C) have rehearsed D) were rehearsing
Verb: rehearse — verb. To practise performing steps in preparation; rehearsal (noun).
Correct: A) had been rehearsing — emphasises repetition and duration up to the cutover.
A) Why correct: Conveys repeated practice that occurred over time and concluded before cutover.
B) Why wrong: Past simple states the event happened but not its repeated, continuous nature.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect would not place it firmly before the cutover.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous suggests in-progress action but not necessarily completed before cutover.
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