How to Use Present Perfect Continuous Tense + Example Sentence

1. What is the Present Perfect Continuous tense?

Form - (has / have been + verb -ing)

Present Perfect Continuous Example Situations / Sentence

e.g. has been learning, have been going, etc.

2. When do we use the Present Perfect Continuous tense?

We use the Present Perfect Continuous for:

i) past action or situation that is still going on

ii) past action or situation that's just ended

iii) repeated past action or situation with continued activity

3. How to use the Present Perfect Continuous - Example Sentence

1. Chris has been learning Japanese for 3 years.

2. James has been running errands all morning.

3. I've been chatting to my neighbour for the past 30 minutes.

4. How long has the the taxi been waiting?

5. Lisa hasn't been doing her homework at all.

6. Has your dad been taking golf lessons?

7. What has she been doing all day? The kitchen is in a big mess now.

Note!

Time Expressions used with Present Perfect Continuous:

- recently,

- lately,

- since December,

- for the past few days etc.

3. How to form the Present Perfect Continuous tense - positive, negative, yes/no Question, wh-Question, short answers

i. Present Perfect Continuous form - positive + (short form)

- (have / has + been + verb-ing)

e.g. sing

I / you / we / they have been ('ve been) singing

he / she /it has been ('s been) singing

ii. Present Perfect Continuous form - negative + (short form)

- (have not / has not + been + verb-ing)

​I / you / we / they have not been (haven't been) singing

he / she / it has not been (hasn't been) singing

iii. Present Perfect Continuous tense (wh-Question)

- (Wh-Q + have + subject + been + verb -ing form)

e.g.

- What have you been ...?

- How long has he been ...?

- Why haven't they been ...?

- Who has been ...?

iv. Present Perfect Continuous form - (Yes/No Questions)

- (Have + subject + been + verb-ing...?

- Have ​I / you /we / they been singing....?

- Has ​ he /she / it been singing...?

v. Present Perfect Continuous form - Short Answers + (short form)

Yes, I / you / we / they have.

Yes, ​ he /she /it has.

No, I / you /we / they ​ have not (haven't).

No, ​ he /she / it has not (hasn't).

4. Quick Recap!

Use the Present Perfect Continuous for the following situations:

i. (past action or situation that is still going on)

e.g. He's been playing the piano all day.

ii. (past action or situation that's just ended)

Present Perfect Continuous - has/have + been +-ing Verb

e.g. Oh, there you are. I've been waiting for you for about an hour.

iii. (repeated past action or situation with continued activity)

e.g. My son's been having nightmares.

Grammar Check!

Compare - Present Perfect Simple vs Present Perfect Continuous Tense

i. Present Perfect Simple > has / have + verb (past participle) form

ii.Present Perfect Continuous > ​has / have + been + verb-ing form

vii. Present Perfect Continuous Tense Practice

Note:

- Look out for the different types of Tenses in the following example. In real life conversation we'll need to use different tenses as we speak.

While reading, try to spot examples of:

- Present Simple

- Past Simple

- Present Perfect Simple

- Future tense with:

> 'plan + to'

> 'be going to'

Present Perfect Continuous - Negative hasn't /haven't + been + -ing form

1. Tess's Diary / Journal

Tess is on a week's break from work.

So far, she's been having a great time at her Auntie Ruth's place in the suburbs.

My Diary / Journal Entry - Day 4

Dear Journal,

I've been taking it easy and catching up on lots of reading.

Yesterday was a lovely day so we had a picnic at a nearby park.

Auntie Ruth made some Japanese rice balls and miso soup for our lunch!

It was so good.

She has been learning Japanese for about 3 years now.

So she's very much into Japanese culture.

Recently, she's been taking some Japanese cooking workshops at the local community centre.

And she's been trying out new recipes she's just learnt.

For the past few days I've been enjoying many kinds of matcha flavoured Japanese sweets.

I've always liked my coffee with milk. Auntie Ruth made me a morning cup of coffee with matcha.

Now I'm hooked.

Later this afternoon we plan to visit an unusual music box museum.

It's about a 40 minute drive away in the city centre.

I know we're going to have a wonderful time.

Ok, I'll stop here.

Uncle Brian has been calling out for me to go in for coffee and snacks.:-)

Vocabulary Check!

Word/ Meaning

1. into (preposition) = be interested in

e.g. I'm into rock music.

2. community centre (noun)

= a place where people can meet to learn, take courses or classes etc.

3. hooked (adjective - informal)

= can't stop because you enjoyed it so much

e.g. I'm hooked on coffee.

TIP! How to Learn, Practise & Improve Your Grammar

Be creative. Make & practise as many sentences & times as you can. Use the sentence pattern to make your own sentences. Write them down in your notebook.

viii) Your Grammar Speaking Practice

Review:

We use the Present Perfect Continuous for the following:

- past action or situation that is still going on

- past action or situation that's just ended

- repeated past action or situation with continued activity

Let's speak Present Perfect Continuous.

1. ''Why are your shoes all covered in mud?"

- I've been playing football in the rain.

2. "You didn't answer your phone."

Answer: I ... ... ... to call you all morning. (try)

Present Perfect Continuous - has/have + been + verb-ing

3. "You're late, again."

Answer: I know. My 4 year-old son ... ... .... (not sleep) well these past few nights.

4. "Dinner's not ready yet."

Answer: Mum ... ... ... (cook) since 3 this afternoon.

English Learning Tip!

How to Learn, Practise & Improve English Grammar

1.Read & Say your sentences out loud. 2.Look up & repeat the sentence. Don't look at the text.

3.Repeat.

Check out other posts on Tenses:

Go to >> Present Simple - When to use + Example Sentence

Go to >> Past Simple - Uses & Example Sentence

Go to >> Present Perfect Simple - How to Use + Example Sentence

Go to >> Future with will & 'be going to' - How to Use + Example Sentence

Thanks so much for reading & Happy speaking!

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