English Grammar (Lesson 5): Rules for The Present and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses

RULES ABOUT THE PRESENT AND PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSES

Rules for The Present and the Past Perfect Continuous Tenses_Learn English With Africa_March 2020

In the past four lessons, we have been looking at how to use the Present and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses in context.

At the end of this fifth and last lesson, you will be able to answer the following questions in detail:

What is the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?
How is it formed?
When and how do we use it?

What is the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?
How is it formed?
When and how do we use it?

REMEMBER: A verb tense sheds more light on the time of an action, an event or a state of being.

This time can be in the Past, Present or Future.

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense

What is the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?

This is a verb tense in English and it shows that an action started in the past and continues up to the present. This action can be finished or unfinished.

FINISHED ACTION: I’ve been writing an interesting article about South Africa and I just posted it a few minutes ago.

Explanation: I started writing this article in the past. Presently, I have finished writing it and it is now posted online. The task is finished.

UNFINISHED ACTION: I have been teaching online for almost five years.

Explanation: I started teaching English on the Internet five years ago and I am still doing it now. I haven’t stopped teaching English. This task is unfinished.

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense is sometimes called:

The Present Perfect Progressive
The Present Perfect Be + V-ing
The Present Perfect in V-ing

How is it formed?

The basic structure of the Present Perfect Continuous Tense is as follows:

Structure, The Present Perfect Continuous Tense, Learn English With Africa, March 2020

Examples:

I have been writing a novel since last year.
You have been learning English for quite some time.
He has been singing rap songs all day long.
Has Peter been smoking recently?
She has been talking to me for the past hour.
Jane has been cooking delicious meals for us.
It has been running in circles like a mad creature.
We have been living here since October.
You have been doing a lot of sports lately.
They have been looking forward to this meeting.
What have you been doing?

When do we use it?

We use it to talk about:

Actions that started in the Past and continue up to the Present.
E.g. I have been learning Spanish for two years.

Actions that started in the Past and have recently stopped.
E.g. We have been waiting for you for ages.

Emphasis or focus on actions that started in the Past and continue up to the Present or have recently stopped. This can have an accusatory tone.
E.g. You have been smoking again!

Repeated activities or events in the past
E.g. They have been visiting patients at the hospital every week.

Duration of an event. We often use this when answering the questions that start with HOW LONG.
E.g. He has been living in that house for ten years.

REMEMBER: The Present Perfect Simple Tense focuses on the result of an action while The Present Perfect Continuous Tense puts emphasis on the action or duration of an action.

Examples:

The Present Perfect Simple Tense: I have done my homework. (The task is finished. I can do something else.)

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense: I have been doing my homework.(The task might be finished or not. I am focusing on the action itself instead of the result or the time when the action actually started. “What have you been doing? I have been doing my homework.” Here, I am more interested in the process than in the result.

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense

What is the Past Perfect Continuous Tense?

This is a verb tense in English and it shows us that an action started sometime in the past and continues up to another time in the past. This action can be finished or unfinished.

FINISHED ACTION: I had been teaching Mathematics in that school for five years when I resigned.

Action 1: Teaching

Action 2: Resignation

Explanation: I resigned after having taught Mathematics for ten years.

UNFINISHED ACTION: I had been reading a romantic novel when my friend arrived.

Action 1: Reading

Action 2: Arrival of my friend

Explanation: Before my friend arrived, I had been reading a novel. I stopped reading when she came. She interrupted my activity. The reading could have continued or not have continued after my friend left.

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense is sometimes called:

The Past Perfect Progressive
The Past Perfect Be + V-ing
The Past Perfect in V-ing

How is it formed?

The basic structure of the Past Perfect Continuous Tense is as follows:

Structure, Tenses, Learn English With Africa, March 2020

Examples:

I had been watching my favourite TV show when the lights went off.
You had been singing all day long until you lost your voice.
He’d been living in England with his wife when they had their first child.
He had been talking to me when you arrived.
Had it been running in circles like a mad creature?
We had been doing our homework in the library.
What had you been doing?
Where had you been going?

When do we use it?

We use it to talk about:

Actions that started in the Past and continue up to another point in the past.
E.g. I had been learning Spanish for two years when I left for Spain.

Actions that started in the Past and stopped before a certain point in the past.
E.g. We had been waiting for them for ages when they finally arrived.

Emphasis or focus on actions that started in the Past and continued up to another point in the past. This can have an accusatory tone.
E.g. He had been drinking again!

Repeated activities or events in the past.
E.g. They had been visiting patients at the hospital every week when they fell sick.

Duration of an event. We often use this when answering the questions that start with HOW LONG.
E.g. He had been living in that house for more than ten years.

Cause and effect
E.g. Our manager was frustrated because some employees had been stealing form the company.

REMEMBER: We cannot use the Present and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses with State, Stative or Non-Continuous Verbs such as: KNOW, SEEM, UNDERTSAND, LIKE, LOVE, SEE, TASTE, etc.

Examples:

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense: I have been ~~knowing~~ her since primary school. (I have known her since primary school).

The Past Perfect Continuous Tense: It had been ~~seeming~~ like the right decision at the time. (It had seemed like the right decision at the time.)

Further Exploration

Download Worksheets:

Read:

Watch and Enjoy: Baked Plantains with Cinnamon