Past Perfect Continuous Quiz 10 — Option-by-Option Explanation & Word Meaning (Improve Spoken English With Cambridge-Style Vocabulary Builder)
Past Perfect Continuous Tense — Exercise 10 (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.”
- Below on footer, you will see Full Screen mode. As the name suggests, it covers the whole screen. It will save a lot of your time attempting the quiz.
- You can zoom the images given in the questions.
- After submitting the quiz, you can see your score and compare with other users.
- The Full Leaderboard link will take you to a page, where you can see all users attempts.
- 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. They __ sandboxing untrusted code during the integration window.
A) had been sandboxing B) sandboxed C) have sandboxed D) were sandboxing
Verb: sandbox — verb. To isolate code in a restricted environment for safety; sandbox (noun).
A) Correct: expresses continuous isolation testing that had been running until integration completed — highlights safety practice and duration.
B) Wrong: past simple would not capture the iterative/sustained sandboxing prior to integration.
C) Wrong: present perfect implies present consequences rather than prior continuous work.
D) Wrong: past continuous suggests activity at a past time but not that it had been occurring before another past moment.
2. By the time the change leaked, we __ labeling all affected artifacts for traceability.
A) had been labeling B) labeled C) have labeled D) were labeling
Verb: label — verb. To tag artifacts with metadata to aid tracking; label (noun).
A) Correct: shows sustained tagging work that was in progress and concluded before the leak — communicates systematic preparation.
B) Wrong: past simple lacks the continued effort narrative.
C) Wrong: present perfect ties to present state, not the prior past period.
D) Wrong: past continuous lacks clear prior-to relation.
3. They __ forked environments to run isolated experiments throughout the afternoon.
A) had been forking B) forked C) have forked D) were forking
Verb: fork — verb. To create separate copies of environments/code to experiment independently; fork (noun).
A) Correct: indicates repeated environment cloning over time leading up to a later event and emphasises iterative testing.
B) Wrong: past simple states it happened but not the ongoing, repeated experimentation.
C) Wrong: present perfect centers on current state, not past duration.
D) Wrong: past continuous implies concurrent action but not the past-before-past nuance.
4. Before the release note, product teams __ rationalizing feature names for clarity.
A) had been rationalizing B) rationalized C) have rationalized D) were rationalizing
Verb: rationalize — verb. To reorganise for logic and clarity; rationalization (noun).
A) Correct: conveys incremental decisions and sustained editing prior to publication — duration + prior relation.
B) Wrong: past simple notes it happened but cannot show the iterative thought process.
C) Wrong: present perfect frames current relevance, not the prior continuous work.
D) Wrong: past continuous doesn’t show it had been happening before the notes were released.
5. They __ labeling canary releases and observing metrics before wide rollout.
A) had been tagging B) tagged C) have tagged D) were tagging
Verb: tag — verb. To mark releases/artifacts for identification; tag (noun).
A) Correct: signals ongoing tagging plus observation across a period before rollout; implies measured caution.
B) Wrong: past simple indicates tagging took place but not the continuous monitoring practice.
C) Wrong: present perfect ties to present state, not the earlier cautious process.
D) Wrong: past continuous indicates in-progress tagging but not prior-to relation.
6. By the time the data team reported, they __ quantifying drift in model performance.
A) had been quantifying B) quantified C) have quantified D) were quantifying
Verb: quantify — verb. To measure or express something as a number; quantification (noun).
A) Correct: denotes continuous measurement of model drift leading up to the reporting time — emphasises duration and evidence gathering.
B) Wrong: past simple lacks the sense of repeated measures over a period.
C) Wrong: present perfect implies present linkage rather than past duration.
D) Wrong: past continuous lacks the past-before-past framing.
7. They __ rehydrating sparse features before handing data to the training pipeline.
A) had been rehydrating B) rehydrated C) have rehydrated D) were rehydrating
Verb: rehydrate — verb. To restore data from compressed/archived form into usable state; rehydration (noun).
A) Correct: indicates repeated restoration activity over a period prior to training ingestion — duration + prior relation.
B) Wrong: past simple states it happened but not the continuous, pre-processing pattern.
C) Wrong: present perfect ties to current state rather than prior continuous tasks.
D) Wrong: past continuous does not show it had been occurring before another past point.
8. Before the SLA review, the team __ simulating peak traffic scenarios every night.
A) had been simulating B) simulated C) have simulated D) were simulating
Verb: simulate — verb. To imitate system behaviour under controlled conditions; simulation (noun).
A) Correct: emphasises repeated nightly simulation work that had been happening before the review — duration and repetition.
B) Wrong: past simple does not convey nightly repetition or duration.
C) Wrong: present perfect centres on present consequences instead of prior continuity.
D) Wrong: past continuous indicates activity in progress but not prior-to relation.
9. They __ purging partial uploads that failed validation during the maintenance window.
A) had been purging B) purged C) have purged D) were purging
Verb: purge — verb. To remove unwanted or outdated items; purge (noun).
A) Correct: communicates an ongoing cleanup process during the window that had been executed repeatedly before window closure.
B) Wrong: past simple would only record that purging happened, not the repetitive/ongoing clean-up behaviour.
C) Wrong: present perfect indicates present link rather than earlier continuous process.
D) Wrong: past continuous might show ongoing action but lacks that it had been happening before another past moment.
10. By the time we checked telemetry, the platform __ degrading gracefully under load for hours.
A) had been degrading B) degraded C) has degraded D) was degrading
Verb: degrade — verb. To decline in performance/quality progressively; degradation (noun).
A) Correct: shows progressive performance decline that had been occurring over hours and positioned before the telemetry check — emphasises duration and progressive nature.
B) Wrong: past simple narrates an event but not that it was an ongoing progressive degradation up to the check.
C) Wrong: present perfect suggests current relevance rather than past continuous progression.
D) Wrong: past continuous implies in-progress degradation but not the past-before-past relationship that had-been expresses.
