Wah How to use Present Perfect Continuous.

We use Present Perfect Continuous when we want to emphasize long actions or events that happened in the past and has continued up until now or that continue into the future

Have/Has + Been + Gerund

• I've been waiting for you for an hour and you still haven't arrived.
• He hasn't been living in Japan very long.
• How long have they been painting this house?
• I have been learning English since I was 10 years old.
• She has been working all day, and now she is extremely exhausted.
• Have you been sleeping well recently?
• He has been trying to finish his homework.
• The mechanic has been fixing that car for 6 hours.
• I have a cold and I haven't been working for a week.

A: Why are your eyes red?
B: I have been crying all night.

A: Have you lost weight?
B: Yes, I have been dieting.

They have been staying in Maldives for two months.

Wah How to use Past Continuous and Past Simple.

We use Past Continuous and Past Simple forms to describe two event in the past which happen at the same time.

We use Past Continuous to indicate that a longer action in the past that was interrupted.
We use Past Simple for a single action that take a short time to interrupt the longer action in the past.

• I was watching a television when the phone rang. 
• While we were sleeping, it started to rain.
• She was cooking dinner when I got home.
• I got to the office while Sara was just making some coffee.
• The computer suddenly went off when I was writing the email.
• I was attending the conference when I met my ex-boyfriend.
• What were you doing when John arrived?
• What were you doing when the lights went off last night?

When and While
We use when before Past Simple.
We use when or while before Past Continuous.

It was snowing when I went home.

Wah How to use "No Sooner Than"

We use No Sooner Than to talk about event or action that immediately happened after another one. 
We usually use this form in formal and in written English.

No Sooner + Past Perfect + Than + Past Simple

    No sooner had I come in the office, than the phone rang. 
    = I had no sooner come in the office, than the phone rang. 
    = As soon as I came in the office, the phone rang.  

Note: Just be careful with the word order. we use inverted word order when no sooner comes at the beginning of a sentence. No sooner had I come. No sooner I had come. is incorrect

• No sooner had Sarah gone out, than James came in.                                                    = As soon as Sarah went out, James came in.  
• No sooner had they eaten that food, than they started feeling terrible.                            = As soon as they ate that food, they started feeling terrible.  
• No sooner had the children come in, than they made a very loud noise. 
• No sooner had I left the house, than it began to rain hard.
• No sooner had she heard the news, than she began to cry.
• No sooner had I got the letter, than I tore it in two.
• No sooner had George arrived in Kyoto, than he felt ill.

No sooner had I looked at her, than she smiled at me.

Wah How to use past perfect tense.

We use Past Perfect to describe an event or activity in the past and we want to make it clear that one event took place before another one.
The Past Perfect form is similar to Present Perfect form, except we use had instead of has,have.

Affirmative           
    I had gone to Japan.
    She had gone to Japan.

Negative
     I hadn't gone to Japan.
     She hadn't gone to Japan.

Interrogative
    Had I gone to Japan?  
    Had She gone to Japan? 

•  I arrived at the office but James had already left.                                                        (James left the office. Then I arrive there.)
•  When Helen bought a new house, she had already sold her old one.                      (Helen sold her old house. Then she bought a new house.)
•  It was great to see John again after such a long time. I hadn't seen him for ages. 
•  Scarlett cried because she had failed an exam.
•  I had never been to Oman before, so last month I decided to take a trip there. 
•  I hadn't known that bad news until I spoke to him.
•  David was not at the party because he had been sick the day before.
•  This accident happened because that yellow car had gone through a red light.

When I went back home, My wife had already gone to bed.