Question

Use the past perfect continuous tense form of the verb in the following sentence:
I ___________ very long before my friend arrived.

• A. had not been waiting
• B. was not waiting
• C. is not waiting
• D. had not waited

Answer 1

Answer: (A)

had not been waiting

Here, 'had not been waiting' in Past Perfect Continuous Tense is correct because it is used to indicate an action in the past that began before a certain point in the past and continued up untill that time.
'Was not waiting' in past continuous is incorrect because it is used to indicate uncompleted action in the past (with or without time reference).
'Is not waiting' in present continuous is incorrect because it implies an action going on at the time of speaking.
'Had not waited' in past perfect is incorrect because it is used to indicate a completed action of the past that happened before another event took place.