Grammar › Present Perfect Continuous

Present Perfect Continuous: positive sentences

450 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 45 tests of ten

Three pieces in a fixed order: have or has, then been, then the -ing form.

The pattern

The only part that changes with the subject is have or has. Been and the -ing form stay the same for everyone:

I have been waiting. She has been waiting. They have been waiting.

In speech the auxiliary contracts: I’ve been, she’s been, they’ve been.

The duration usually comes last

Because the tense is about length, most sentences end with the period:

We have been living here for three years. It has been raining since lunchtime.

Without a duration the sentence often implies a visible result instead: You*’ve been running***, said to someone out of breath.

all day, all week, lately

These fit naturally and reinforce the idea of a stretch of time:

She has been complaining all week. Prices have been rising lately.

The explanation pattern

A very common use puts the present state first and the cause second:

I’m covered in paint. I*’ve been decorating** the hall.*

Both halves matter: the first is now, the second says what produced it.

All forms

Examples

Taken from the 450 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.

• I have been playing this instrument since I was young.
• The parents have been waiting for their child at the amusement park.
• They have been traveling around Europe for months.
• They have been working on this project since last week.
• The students have been studying in the classroom since the morning.
• Laura has been working at this company for five years.
• Martha has been cooking dinner since afternoon.
• She has been waiting for her friends at the coffee shop.
• Mary and John have been watching a movie since yesterday.
• She has been studying to become a doctor for five years.
• The pianist has been practicing the same piece all evening.
• The clerk and I have been reading the form for ten minutes.

Mistakes to avoid

Other forms of Present Perfect Continuous