Past Perfect Continuous Quiz 2 — Option-by-Option Explanation & Word Meaning (Improve Spoken English With Cambridge-Style Vocabulary Builder)
Past Perfect Continuous Tense — Exercise 2 (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. By the time the dashboard refreshed, the scripts __ recalculating metrics for half an hour.
A) had been recalculating B) recalculated C) have recalculated D) were recalculating
Verb: recalculate — verb. To compute values again after a change; recalculation (noun).
Correct: A) had been recalculating — indicates ongoing computation leading up to refresh.
A) Why correct: Emphasises duration (“half an hour”) and that the action was occurring up to the refresh.
B) Why wrong: Past simple merely reports completion without duration.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect ties to the present, not the prior past event.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks the “prior to another past moment” emphasis.
2. Before the PR merged, the author __ addressing review comments all afternoon.
A) had been addressing B) addressed C) have addressed D) was addressing
Verb: address — verb. To deal with feedback or requirements; address (noun).
Correct: A) had been addressing — continuous revision activity prior to merge.
A) Why correct: Shows sustained editing work over the afternoon leading up to the merge.
B) Why wrong: Past simple reports the act of addressing but not its continuous nature.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect refers to present effects rather than past sequencing.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous misses the finished-before relation with the merge.
3. They __ throttling rules during the traffic surge until the engine stabilised.
A) had been refining B) refined C) have refined D) were refining
Verb: refine — verb. To make small improvements for better performance; refinement (noun).
Correct: A) had been refining — action ongoing and iterative until stability.
A) Why correct: Emphasises iterative tuning across the surge and that it was happening up to stabilisation.
B) Why wrong: Past simple states completion but not ongoing process.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect would connect to now, not to past sequence.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous could show in-progress nature but not that it had been happening leading up to a past event.
4. When the rollback triggered, engineers __ diagnosing disk IO anomalies for hours.
A) had been probing B) probed C) have probed D) were probing
Verb: probe — verb. To investigate or examine a system to find faults; probe (noun).
Correct: A) had been probing — ongoing investigation prior to rollback.
A) Why correct: Indicates repeated or continuous investigation that extended up until rollback.
B) Why wrong: Past simple reports a single or completed investigation without duration.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect doesn’t show it happened prior to rollback.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks explicit prior-to relation.
5. Prior to the patch, developers __ refactoring the authentication module for weeks.
A) had been refactoring B) refactored C) have refactored D) were refactoring
Verb: refactor — verb. To restructure code without changing behavior; refactoring (noun).
Correct: A) had been refactoring — long, continuous code improvements culminating before patch.
A) Why correct: Emphasises long duration (“for weeks”) and continuity ending before patching.
B) Why wrong: Past simple would not emphasise duration or leading-up relationship.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect ties to present consequences, not earlier sequence.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks the “had been … before” emphasis.
6. By the time the client responded, support __ following up unresolved tickets since Monday.
A) had been pursuing B) pursued C) have pursued D) were pursuing
Verb: pursue — verb. To continue to try to achieve or follow up on something; pursuit (noun).
Correct: A) had been pursuing — implies persistent follow-up activity from Monday to the response.
A) Why correct: Shows continuing efforts over a period prior to the client’s response (duration + prior relation).
B) Why wrong: Past simple lacks the emphasis on sustained effort and sequence.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect connects to now and is not anchored to the past event.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous fails to show that the action had been occurring up to the client’s response.
7. They __ validating encryption keys when the CA announced rotation.
A) had been validating B) validated C) have validated D) were validating
Verb: validate — verb. To check correctness or compliance; validation (noun).
Correct: A) had been validating — ongoing checks prior to the announcement.
A) Why correct: Emphasises continuous validation work that had taken place up to the announcement.
B) Why wrong: Past simple doesn’t convey continuity or that it preceded announcement.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect suggests present relevance, not the earlier activity.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous doesn’t make clear that it had been happening before the announcement.
8. Before the upgrade, DBAs __ compacting indexes to improve query times.
A) had been compacting B) compacted C) have compacted D) were compacting
Verb: compact — verb. To make data storage more efficient by reorganising; compaction (noun).
Correct: A) had been compacting — continuous maintenance before upgrade.
A) Why correct: Conveys an ongoing maintenance activity that was underway before the upgrade.
B) Why wrong: Past simple would not highlight duration or prior relation.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect implies present result.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks the “had been … before” nuance.
9. They __ onboarding calls with partners for more than a week before contract signing.
A) had been scheduling B) scheduled C) have scheduled D) were scheduling
Verb: schedule — verb. To arrange meetings or events at planned times; schedule (noun).
Correct: A) had been scheduling — repeated organising activity over a week prior to signing.
A) Why correct: Emphasises repeated, ongoing scheduling that occurred up to the signing.
B) Why wrong: Past simple states it happened but not with duration or prior emphasis.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect ties to present, not to the earlier past.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous does not explicitly show it had been happening before a later past event.
10. By the time the SLA expired, we __ negotiating extension options for several days.
A) had been exploring B) explored C) have explored D) were exploring
Verb: explore — verb. To investigate or consider possibilities; exploration (noun).
Correct: A) had been exploring — continuous consideration of alternatives before SLA expiry.
A) Why correct: Indicates ongoing investigation into options that took place prior to expiry.
B) Why wrong: Past simple would not stress continuous effort or timing relative to expiry.
C) Why wrong: Present perfect connects to present implications rather than past sequence.
D) Why wrong: Past continuous lacks the finished-before relation.
