Present Perfect Continuous Tense

I have been singing

How do we make the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?

The structure of the present perfect continuous tense is:

subject --+-- auxiliary verb --+-- auxiliary verb-- + --main verb---------------------have
---------------------has -------------------been ---------------base + ing

Here are some examples of the present perfect continuous tense:

----subject ----auxiliary verb ---------------auxiliary verb ----------main verb

+ ---I ----..--------have --------------------------been ----------------------waiting --------for one hour.
+ ---You --..------have --------------------------been ----------------------talking -----.---too much.
- ---It ------..-----has ----------------not -------been ----------------------raining.
- ---We -------.---have --------------not------- been ----------------------playing ---------football.
? ---Have ----.----you --------------------.-------been ----------------------seeing ---------her?
? ---Have ----.----they --------------------.------been ----------------------.doing ---------their homework?

Contractions

When we use the present perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first auxiliary. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.

I have been .............................. I've been
You have been .......................... You've been
He has been ............................. He's been
She has been ............................ She's been
It has been ............................... It's been
John has been ........................... John's been
The car has been ....................... The car's been
We have been ........................... We've been
They have been ........................ They've been

Here are some examples:

•I've been reading.
•The car's been giving trouble.
•We've been playing tennis for two hours.

How do we use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?

This tense is called the present perfect continuous tense. There is usually a connection with the present or now. There are basically two uses for the present perfect continuous tense:

1. An action that has just stopped or recently stopped

We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently. There is usually a result now.

__________________________________________________
I'm tired because I've been running.

..............................past .....................present .....................future

------------------------Recent action. -----------Result now.

•I'm tired [now] because I've been running.
•Why is the grass wet [now]? Has it been raining?
•You don't understand [now] because you haven't been listening.

2. An action continuing up to now

We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. This is often used with for or since.

______________________________________________________________________________
I have been reading for 2 hours.
past -------------..........-------present ----------..........----------future

---------Action started in past. ---...--Action is continuing now.

______________________________________________________________________________

•I have been reading for 2 hours. [I am still reading now.]
•We've been studying since 9 o'clock. [We're still studying now.]
•How long have you been learning English? [You are still learning now.]
•We have not been smoking. [And we are not smoking now.]

For and Since with Present Perfect Continuous Tense

We often use for and since with the present perfect tense.

•We use for to talk about a period of time - 5 minutes, 2 weeks, 6 years.
•We use since to talk about a point in past time - 9 o'clock, 1st January, Monday.

_____________________________________----------for--------......--------------since

a period of time ------------a point in past time

20 minutes ----------------------6.15pm
three days -----------------------Monday
6 months ------------------------January
4 years ------------------.--------1994
2 centuries ----------------------1800
a long time ----------------------I left school
ever --------------------..---------the beginning of time
etc-----------------------...------- etc

Here are some examples:

•I have been studying for 3 hours.
•I have been watching TV since 7pm.
•Tara hasn't been feeling well for 2 weeks.
•Tara hasn't been visiting us since March.
•He has been playing football for a long time.
•He has been living in Bangkok since he left school.

For can be used with all tenses. Since is usually used with perfect tenses only.