Present Perfect Continuous Tense

A. Use the correct form of the verb in the brackets to fill in the blanks also provide ‘since/for’.
1. Rahul ________________________ French ________ three months. (learn)
2. Mr Rupert ________________________ in New Orleans _____ the past four years. (stay)
3. The boys ________________________ in the park ________ five o’clock. (play) ✓
WHEN DO WE USE THE PRESENT PERFECT
4. Tina ________________________ for sometime. (meditate) CONTINUOUS?
5. The child ________________________ for three hours. (sleep)
6. Mohit ________________________ for a new laptop ________ a long time. (ask)
7. The builder ________________________ the tower ________ a few months. (build)
8. I ________________________ Shakespeare ________ Saturday. (read)
9. Uma ________________________ the three pages ________ morning. (type)
10. Hira ________________________ for his friend at the cafe ________ the evening. (wait) USE 1 From the past till now
11. The teacher ________________________ for the last two hours. (teach)
12. The man ________________________ to fix the flat tire ________ a few hours. (try) We use the Present Perfect Continuous to show that
13. The doctors ________________________ for three hours. (operate) something started in the past and has continued
14. Raj ________________________ for his examination ________ the morning. (study) until now. "For five minutes," "for two weeks," and "since
15. My mother ________________________ cakes ________ two o’clock. (baking) Tuesday" are duration expressions.
16. The man ________________________ the streets ________ hours. (wander)
17. Ron ________________________ video game ________ afternoon. (play) Examples:
18. Paro ________________________ with her friend on the phone ________ hours. (talk) • They have been talking for the last hour.
19. It ________________________ since tomorrow. (rain) • What have you been doing for the last 30 minutes?
20. The dog ________________________ since last night. (bark) • James has been teaching at the university since June.
• We haven’t been waiting for more than two hours
B. Make the Present Perfect Continuous.
1. (She / work here for five years) USE 1 Recently, Lately
________________________________________________________________________
2. (I / study all day) You can also use the Present Perfect Continuous
________________________________________________________________________ without a duration expression. We often use the words
3. (You / eat a lot recently) "lately" or "recently" to emphasize this meaning.
________________________________________________________________________
4. (We / live in London for six months) Examples:
________________________________________________________________________ • Recently, I have been feeling really tired.
5. (He / play football so he's tired) • She has been watching too much television lately.
________________________________________________________________________ • Have you been exercising lately?
C. Make NEGATIVE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS sentences: • Lisa has not been practicing her English.
• What have you been doing?
The present perfect tense
1. Carl ............................................................. to the teacher for the last ten minutes. (not/to listen)
2. The students .............................................................to learn the new words. (not/to try)
3. focuses on the completion of an action and the
Kim .............................................................crossword puzzles. (not/to do) Important notes:
4. The teachers .............................................................in the sun. (not/to lie) •Some verbs do not usually occur in
5. present results.
I .............................................................in the last lesson. (not/to sleep) the continuous tense, including the
6. The doctor .............................................................the patients. (not/to examine) present perfect continuous tense.
7. They .............................................................out
I’ve just knitted a sweater. loud. (not/to laugh) be believe dislike forget
8. We .............................................................the whole evening. (not/to phone) hate hear know like
9. can
My be father .............................................................to work lately. (not/to go) love need own prefer
used to say how often an action has been
10. Zack .............................................................the whole evening. (not/to dance) remember see seem smell
taste want.
D. Make POSITIVE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS sentences:
repeated e.g.
1. I ..................................................................................this website since 1999. (to run) WRONG:
2. e.g.
My parents
Mr Chan ..................................................................................for
has travelled to Japan three times years. (to smoke) I’ve been hearing of this happy news.
3. He ..................................................................................for his girlfriend since 6 o'clock. (to wait) CORRECT:
4. We ..................................................................................in Greece since last August. (to live) I’ve heard of this happy news.
this year.
5. Max and Paul ..................................................................................their bikes all day. (to ride)
6. They ..................................................................................in the sun for hours. (to lie) Present Perfect Continuous
7. talks
Emilyabout a long-lasting or permanent condition
..................................................................................on the computer for too long. (to work) Tense
8. It ..................................................................................since I came home. (to rain)
focuses on an action in progress.
9. e.g.
YouThis is our dog. We have had it for ten years. music since 12:30. (to listen)
..................................................................................to
e.g. I’ve been knitting a sweater.
10. Frank ..................................................................................for the last 20 minutes. (to dream)
focuses on a repeated action over a
E. MAKE PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS sentences: period of time but does not mention
1. Andrew ...........................................................................in the country since 2015. (not/to live) the frequency
2. How long ............................ your grandparents .................................................... this car? (to drive) e.g. Mr Chan has been flying to
3. They ...........................................................................today. (not/to cycle) Japan for business trips recently.
4. Tony ...........................................................................his book, but Mary has. (not/to read) talks about a more temporary
5. How long .................................he ....................................................................... for her? (to wait) action
6. ............................................ Andy ..................................... on the blue car all day? (to work) e.g. Mr Chu is on holiday and we
7. My brother ...........................................................................hard enough. (not/to study) have been keeping his dog for a
8. How long ............................................... they ..................................................... for a flat? (to look) week.
9. I ...........................................................................my homework recently. (not/to do)
10. ........................................ you ........................................................... the whole morning? (to sleep)