PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
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| TENSES AND THEIR USES - PART-4 |
Let's observe this sentence
Mr Baruah has been teaching in this school for thirty years.
We use here a tense form called THE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOS to express an action (teaching) that happens over a period (thirty years) . The period started thirty years ago and lasts up to the present. We use this tense to denote an action that started in the past and is still going on in the present.
Let's see how we form 'Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
CONJUGATION OF THE VERB 'TO READ'
AFFIRMATIVE SENTENCE
(Sub + have/has + been + Present Participle form of the verb)
1st Person (Singular):- I have been reading.
1st Person (Plural):- We have been reading.
2nd Person (Singular):- You have been reading.
2nd Person (Plural):- You have been reading.
3rd Person (Singular):- He has been reading.
She has been reading.
Rehan has been reading.
3rd Person (Plural):- They have been reading./Rehan and Rejima have been reading.
NEGATIVE SENTENCE
{Sub+have/has + not + been + Present Participle form of the verb(V-ing)}
1st Person (Singular):-I have not been reading.
2nd Person (Singular):- We have not been reading.
2nd Person (Plural):- You have not been reading.
3rd Person (Singular):- He has not been reading.
She has not been reading.
Smita has not been reading.
3rd Person (Plural):- They have not been reading./ Smita and Dipika have not been reading.
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE
(Have/Has + Sub + been + Present Participle form of the verb?
1st Person (Singular):- Have I been reading?
1st Person (Plural) :- Have we been reading?
2nd Person (Singular):- Have you been reading?
2nd Person (Plural):- Have you been reading?
3rd Person (Singular):- Has he been reading?
Has she been reading?
Has Harish been reading?
3rd Person (Plural):- Have they been reading?/ Have Neha and Harish been reading?
USES
The Present Perfect Continuous Tense is used in the following cases-
i) It is used to link the past with present
Examples:-
He has been living in this house for ten years. (He is still living.)
She has been working in this school since 2001.
(He is still working.)
It has been raining since 7:00 a.m.
(It started raining at 7:00 a.m. and is still raining)
NOTE:- In the Present Perfect Continuous Tense we use 'since' to indicate the starting point of an action ( since morning, since 1:00 p.m., since Monday etc.) and 'for' to indicate the period of time( for ten minutes, for an hour, for six years, for a long time etc.).
She has been reading the book since 6:00 p.m.
She has been reading the book for three hours.
We can also say
It has been raining all day.
Have you been waiting long?
ii) We can use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense for a repeated action.
Neha has been playing tennis since she was five.
(= since she was five years old.)
Our hockey team has been doing very well lately.
iii) We can use the Present Perfect Continuos Tense to talk about an action that ends just before the present.
I have been swimming.
That's why my hair is wet.
(Oxford Practice Grammar,JOHN EASTWOOD)
Other Examples:-
His shirt is dirty, he has been washing the car.
The boy is so tired, he has been playing all day.
iv) The Present Perfect Continuous Tense with
'How long' and 'recently'
In questions the present perfect continuous tense is used with the phrase 'How long'
How long have you been waiting here?
Some Important points to remember
i)There is an important difference between Present Continuos Tense and Present Perfect Continuous Tense.
The Present Continuous Tense is used to describe an action which is continuing in the Present, but says nothing about the past. On the other hand the Present Perfect Continuous Tense says that the action is still continuing now although it began sometime in the past. Therefore,
It is wrong to say-
I am reading this book since yesterday.
We have to say-
I have been reading this book since yesterday.
ii)We can use 'recently' and 'lately' ( both mean 'in the last few days or weeks')
I have been feeling very well recently.
What have you been doing lately?
(John Eastwood- Oxford Practice Grammar.)
iii) We do not use the continuous tense with state verbs. We use Present Perfect Tense with them.
We have known each other for a long time.
She has had this car for about seven years.
You've never been satisfied here, I'm afraid.
iv) We can use the present perfect or the present perfect continuous tense or the present perfect tense with action verbs with no difference in meaning.
Examples
We have been living in this house since 2001.
or
We have lived in this house since 2001.
Mr Bose has been working here for twenty years.
Or
Mr Bose has worked here for twenty years.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE Vs PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
i) We use the present perfect continuous tense for an action happening over a period of time.
Liza has been travelling some European countries.
(She is still travelling i.e in the middle of the action of travelling.)
On the other hand, we use the present perfect tense for a completed action.
Rittik has repaired the car.
(Here the action of repairing car is completed. Now we are thinking of finished repairing work and the result of the repairing- that the car is alright now.)
ii) We normally use the present perfect tense when we say' how long' and the present perfect continuos tense when we say 'how many' or 'how much'
We say-
She has been singing all day.
But we say-
She has sung five songs.
Similarly
Riju has been reading this book since morning.
But
Riju has read three stories of the book.
We say:
How long have you been learning to drive?
But we can say:
How many driving lessons have you had?
