Download PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Vivian Constanta
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
A. FORM
Affirmative form
I
we
you
they
have been working
Negative form
I
we
you
they
Interrogative form
have not/ haven’t been working
he/she/it has been working
he/she/it
has not/hasn’t been working
1. I have studying for two
hours this morning.
1. She hasn’t been feeling well lately.
have
I
we
you
they
been working
has he/she/it been working
Questions and short
answers:
have you been playing tennis?
Yes, I have.
No, I haven’t.
has he been playing tennis?
Yes, he has.
No, he hasn’t.
Notes on spelling:
If the verb ends in –ie we change it to –y and then add -ing:
lie - lying
If the verb ends in -e we delete the -e and add -ing:
dive - diving
If the verb ends in a consonant we double it and then add -ing:
put - putting
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Vivian Constanta
B. USE
USE
EXAMPLES
when we talk about unfinished actions that
show duration from the past until now
 They have been talking for the last hour.
 We have been waiting here for over two
hours!
 James has been teaching at the university
since June.
when we talk about actions that have happened
recently or lately

Recently, I have been feeling really tired.
 She has been watching too much television
lately.
 Have you been exercising lately?
 Mary has been feeling a little depressed.
C. TIME EXPRESSIONS/ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY
S + Verb + time expression
for two hours/days, all morning/day/evening/night, since, lately, recently
e.g. We have been watching TV all night.
D. PRACTICE
2. Form sentences with the Present Perfect Simple or Continuous.
1. Mary/learn/English/two years ___________________________
2. We /have/this/car/1998 _______________________________
3. Amy and Adam/be/married/20 years ______________________
4. My father/work/for this company/ten years ________________
5.
It/rain/past two days _________________________________
6. I/ never see/man/before _______________________________
7. She/just/eat lunch ___________________________________
8. We/do/this exercise for 3 hours and we/finish yet. ___________
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Vivian Constanta
2. Put the verbs in brackets into the Present Perfect Simple or the Present
Perfect Continuous.
0 I __haven’t seen__ (not see) you for ages!
1 Don’t tell me you are too busy to give me a hand with the cooking. You
________________ (play) computer games for the last two hours.
2 We are very proud of our son. He ________________ (break) the school
high jump record again.
3 I’m totally exhausted! I ________________ (clean) the house all day but I
still ________________ (not finish) the bathroom.
4 I’m afraid you won’t be able to leave for home earlier today, Ms Brown. It’s 5
o’clock and you ________________ (write) only half of the proposal so far.
5 Diane Porter is a well-known applied linguist. Recently she
________________ (do) research on the effects of students’ age on second
language learning.
3. Complete the sentences using the correct time expressions below.
already
ever
all her life
yet
just
never
for
1 Would you like a cup of tea? The kettle’s _____________________ boiled.
2 Have you _____________________ eaten Chinese food?
3 Karen has been a teacher _____________________.
4 I don’t want to see that film. I’ve _________________ seen it three times.
5 She hasn’t printed out her homework _____________________.
6 Tom hates travelling. He has _____________________ travelled abroad.
7 Leo and Paula have been married __________________ twenty-five years.
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Vivian Constanta
4. Read the rules for using the Present Perfect Simple and Present Perfect
Continuous in the box. Match them to the sentences below. Write the
correct letter after the sentence.
A Use the Present Perfect Continuous for activities
that are still going on now (unfinished actions).
B Use the Present Perfect Continuous for activities
that have some consequences in the present
C Use the Present Perfect Simple for achievements.
D Use the Present Perfect Simple for finished actions.
0 Brazil has won the World Cup four times. __C__
1 The snow has frozen into ice. _____
2 Sorry about my hair. I’ve been painting David’s bedroom. _____
3 Haven’t you finished yet? You’ve been typing that letter for 30 minutes.
_____
4 I’ve made a cake for your birthday. Here it is. _____
5 She’s climbed to the top of Everest. _____
6 I have recorded the football match so you can see it later. _____
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