Fill in the gaps with one of the verbs from the list in the Past Perfect Continuous.
read scream argue try get eat watch
1) Nick felt sick. He ... sweets all weekend.
2) John was confused. He ... to win the chess game for hours.
3) Hannah was angry. She ...with her parents for an hour.
4) Allan was very tired. He ...all night.
5) Simon had a headache. His baby sister ... for half an hour.
6) Emily was frightened. She ... a horror film for half an hour.
7) We were upset. We ...no likes for two days.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because Nick's action of eating sweets happened before he felt sick. The action of eating sweets started in the past and continued until the point of feeling sick. Therefore, we use "had been eating" to show the continuous action in the past.
2) John was confused. He had been trying to win the chess game for hours.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because John's action of trying to win the chess game started before he felt confused and continued until a certain point in the past (not mentioned in the sentence). The action of trying to win started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had been trying" to show the continuous action in the past.
3) Hannah was angry. She had been arguing with her parents for an hour.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because Hannah's action of arguing with her parents started before she felt angry and continued until a certain point in the past (one hour). The action of arguing started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had been arguing" to show the continuous action in the past.
4) Allan was very tired. He had been sleeping all night.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because Allan's action of sleeping started before he felt tired and continued until a certain point in the past (morning). The action of sleeping started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had been sleeping" to show the continuous action in the past.
5) Simon had a headache. His baby sister had been screaming for half an hour.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because Simon's sister's action of screaming started before Simon had a headache and continued until a certain point in the past (half an hour). The action of screaming started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had been screaming" to show the continuous action in the past.
6) Emily was frightened. She had been watching a horror film for half an hour.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because Emily's action of watching a horror film started before she felt frightened and continued until a certain point in the past (half an hour). The action of watching started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had been watching" to show the continuous action in the past.
7) We were upset. We had had no likes for two days.
Explanation: In this sentence, we use the Past Perfect Continuous tense because the action of not having likes started before we felt upset and continued until a certain point in the past (two days). The action of not having likes started in the past and continued until a specific time. Therefore, we use "had had" to show the continuous action in the past.