Unit 19: The present perfect continuous tense.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense
I have been singing

How do we make the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?
The structure of the present perfect continuous tense is:

subject + auxiliary verb + auxiliary verb + main verb
have been base + ing
has been base + ing

Here are some examples of the present perfect continuous tense:

subject auxiliary verb auxiliary verb main verb complement
+ I have been waiting for one hour.
+ You have been talking too much.
- It has not been raining.
- We have not been playing football.
Interrogative:
? Have you been seeing her?
? Have they been doing their homework?

Contractions
When we use the present perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first auxiliary. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.

I have been I've been
You have been You've been
He has been he´s been
She has been she´s been
It has been it´s been
John has been John´s been
The car has been it´s been
We have been We've been
They have been They've been

Here are some examples:

I've been reading.
The car's been giving trouble.
We've been playing tennis for two hours.

How do we use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?
This tense is called the present perfect continuous tense. There is usually a connection with the present or now. There are basically two uses for the present perfect continuous tense:

1. An action that has just stopped or recently stopped
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently. There is usually a result now.


I'm tired because I've been running.


I'm tired [now] because I've been running.
Why is the grass wet [now]? Has it been raining?
You don't understand [now] because you haven't been listening.

2. An action continuing up to now
We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. This is often used with for or since.

I have been reading for 2 hours.

Action started in past. Action is continuing now.

I have been reading for 2 hours. [I am still reading now.]
We've been studying since 9 o'clock. [We're still studying now.]
How long have you been learning English? [You are still learning now.]
We have not been smoking. [And we are not smoking now.]

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Thanks for the info