PERFECT CONDITIONAL, CONTINUOUS

1. Perfect conditional, continuous - Form

This tense is composed of two elements: the perfect condtional of the verb 'to be' (would have been) + the present participle (base+ing).

Subject	would have been	base+ing
I We	would have been would have been	sitting swimming
Affirmative
I	would have been	studying.
Negative
You	wouldn't have been	living.
Interrogative
Would	we have been	travelling?
Interrogative negative
Wouldn't	it have been	working?

Examples to work, Past continuous conditional

Affirmative	Negative
I would have been working	I wouldn't have been working
You would have been working	You wouldn't have been working.
He would have been working	She wouldn't have been working
We would have been working	We wouldn't have been working
You would have been working	You wouldn't have been working
They would have been working	They wouldn't have been working
Interrogative	Interrogative negative
Would I have been working?	Wouldn't I have been working?
Would you have been working?	Wouldn't you have been working?
Would he have been working?	Wouldn't she have been working?
Would we have been working?	Wouldn't we have been working?
Would you have been working?	Wouldn't you have been working?
Would they have been working?	Wouldn't they have been working?

2. Function

This tense can be used in Type 3 conditional sentences. It refers to the unfulfilled result of the action in the if-clause, and expresses this result as an unfinished or continuous action. Again, there is always an unspoken "but.." phrase:

Examples

• If the weather had been better (but it wasn't), I'd have been sitting in the garden when he arrived (but I wasn't and so I didn't see him).
• If she hadn't got a job in London (but she did), she would have been working in Paris (but she wasn't).

• If I'd had a ball I would have been playing football.
• If I'd had any money I'd have been drinking with my friends in the pub that night.
• If I had known it was dangerous I wouldn't have been climbing that cliff.
• She wouldn't have been wearing a seat-belt if her father hadn't told her to.