PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

1. FORM

   • HAVE/ HAS + BEEN+ PRESENT PARTICIPLE (-ING)
     • Affirmative: I have been working a lot
     • Interrogative: Have you been cooking all day?
     • Negative: I haven't been sleeping

2. USES

   • actions which started in the past and continue in present
     • I have been living here for years
   • to focus on the duration and the process of an action
     • It's been raining for a week now
   • temporary actions up to present, they could be incomplete or unfinished
     • I have been looking for my glasses
   • Don't use it with state verbs
     • She has known about the accident
   • Don't use it to say how many times an action has happened
     • I have been visiting this city three times ---wrong / She has visited this city three times ---right
   • Used with HOW LONG to ask for duration of the action
     • How long has she been working here?