Present perfect continuous Present perfect simple

+ Subject + have + been + (v.+ing) + Subject + have + past participle

has has

- Subject + haven’t + been + (v. + ing) - Subject + haven’t + past participle

hasn’t hasn’t

? (q.w.)+ have+ subj.+been + (v.+ing) (q.w.)+have+subj.+past participle

has has

Present perfect continuous Present perfect simple

I’ve been cleaning my car. I’ve cleaned my car.

When we use the present perfect continuous, We use the present perfect simple when the
the action may be finished or not finished. action is finished.

I’ve been walking all morning. I’ve walked six kilometers so far this
morning.

We use the present perfect continuous to talk We use the present perfect simple to talk
about how long something has been on about what has been achieved in a period
progress. of time.

He has been living there for just a few He has always lived there.
weeks.

We use the present perfect continuous for We use the present perfect simple for
situations which are more temporary situations which are more permanent
(continuing for a short time). (continuing for a longer time).

I’ve been living/ I’ve lived in this flat for ten years.

Sometimes there is only a small difference in meaning between the two forms.

Exercise 1
Read the situations and write two sentences using the words in brackets.
1
1. Tom started reading a book two hours ago. He is still reading it and now he is on
page 53.
(read/for two hours) He has been reading for two hours.
(read/53 pages so far) He has read 53 pages so far.

2. Linda is from Australia. She is travelling round Europe at the moment. She began
her tour three months ago.

(travel/for three months) ________________________________________________________

(visit/six countries so far) _______________________________________________________

3. Jimmy is a tennis player. He began playing tennis when he was ten years old. This
year he is national champion again - for the fourth time.

(win/the national championship four times)

_________________________________________________________________________________
(play/tennis since he was ten)
_________________________________________________________________________________

4. When they left college, Mary and Sue started making films together. They still
make films.

(make/ten films since they left college)

_________________________________________________________________________________
(make/films since they left college)
_________________________________________________________________________________