Present Perfect Continuous Tense

 

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

 

                                 Singular number                plural number

First person         I have been waiting          we have been waiting

Second Person    you have been waiting    you have been waiting

Third person       she has been waiting        they have been waiting

 

Rules to use this tense:

Actions happening recently(lately)

She has been exercising lot recently.

 

Duration from the past until now.

He has been teaching for ten years.

 

Temporary actions

I’ve been practising for five years.

 

Actions going on for a period of time.

It has been raining the platform is wet.

 

To express an action which began at sometime in the past and still continuing and may extend into the future.

Example:

She has been studying since morning.

Note:

since is used for a point of time

For is used for a period of time.

 

To express an action in a sentence which begins with for how long or since when

 

To express an action that began sometime in the past and has been just completed. However, its result is visible in the present.

Example:

I have been working on this project for five years so I am happy now.

She has lived in this house for five years.

Note: we do not use adverbs of time denoting the past tense in present perfect tense.

Example:

Father has returned from Vellore yesterday. (this sentence is wrong)

Father has returned from Vellore.

 

 

The Present Perfect Continuous is used for an action which began at some time in

the past and is still continuing; as,

He has been sleeping for five hours (and is still sleeping).

They have been building the bridge for several months.

They have been playing since four o'clock.

 

This tense is also sometimes used for an action already finished. In such cases the

continuity of the activity is emphasized as an explanation of something.

'Why are your clothes so wet?' - 'I have been watering the garden'.

THE PAST