Tenses Questions
The past perfect continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action that started in the past and continued up until another point in the past. It is formed by using "had been" + present participle (-ing form of the verb).
Example: She had been studying for three hours before she took a break.
On the other hand, the past continuous tense is used to describe an ongoing action that was happening at a specific point in the past. It is formed by using "was/were" + present participle (-ing form of the verb).
Example: They were playing football when it started raining.
In summary, the main difference between the two tenses is that the past perfect continuous emphasizes the duration of an action that occurred before another past event, while the past continuous simply describes an ongoing action in the past.