Grammar › Present Perfect Continuous

Present Perfect Continuous: yes/no questions

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

Move have or has in front of the subject. Been and the -ing form stay together.

The pattern

Only the first auxiliary moves:

You have been waiting. → Have you been waiting?

Been stays with the -ing form and never moves to the front.

Short answers use have or has

Has he been working? — Yes, he has. / No, he hasn’t.

Repeating the whole phrase is correct but unusual.

Reading the evidence

A very characteristic use asks about a cause you can see:

• Have you been crying?
• Has it been raining?

The speaker is not asking about the past for its own sake — they are asking what explains what is in front of them.

Asking how much instead

If you want a number rather than a duration, switch to the plain Present Perfect:

• Have you been reading all morning? — about the time spent.
• How many pages have you read? — about the result.

All forms

Examples

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

• Have they been going to the gym often in the past few weeks?
• Has she been singing at the concert every night this week?
• Have they been going to the new restaurant in town?
• Have you been making much progress with your project?
• Have they been coming late to work every day this week?
• Has he been reading the same book for weeks now?
• Has he been drinking enough water during the day?
• Have you been spending a lot of time with your friends recently?
• Have they been playing soccer all day?
• Have they been looking for a new job since last month?
• Have you been eating any snacks before dinner?
• Have they been working together for a long time?

Mistakes to avoid

Other forms of Present Perfect Continuous