For those who are still confused between had been and have been. :-) Source: My English Grammar Mentor - August Rush Enjoy Learning! Present Perfect Continuous FORM [has/have + been + present participle] Examples: • You have been waiting here for two hours. • Have you been waiting here for two hours? • You have not been waiting here for two hours. Complete List of Present Perfect Continuous Forms USE 1 Duration from the Past Until Now We use the Present Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now. For five minutes, for two weeks, and since Tuesday are all durations which can be used with the Present Perfect Continuous. Examples: • They have been talking for the last hour. • She has been working at that company for three years. • What have you been doing for the last 30 minutes? • James has been teaching at the university since June. • We have been waiting here for over two hours! • Why has Nancy not been taking her medicine for the last three days? USE 2 Recently, Lately You can also use the Present Perfect Continuous WITHOUT a duration such as for two weeks. Without the duration, the tense has a more general meaning of lately. We often use the words lately or recently to emphasize this meaning. Examples: • Recently, I have been feeling really tired. • She has been watching too much television lately. • Have you been exercising lately? • Mary has been feeling a little depressed. • Lisa has not been practicing her English. • What have you been doing? Past Perfect Continuous FORM [had been + present participle] Examples: • You had been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived. • Had you been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived? • You had not been waiting there for more than two hours when she finally arrived. Complete List of Past Perfect Continuous Forms USE 1 Duration Before Something in the Past We use the Past Perfect Continuous to show that something started in the past and continued up until another time in the past. For five minutes and for two weeks are both durations which can be used with the Past Perfect Continuous. Notice that this is related to thePresent Perfect Continuous; however, the duration does not continue until now, it stops before something else in the past. Examples: • They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived. • She had been working at that company for three years when it went out of business. • How long had you been waiting to get on the bus? • Mike wanted to sit down because he had been standing all day at work. • James had been teaching at the university for more than a year before he left for Asia. • A: How long had you been studying Turkish before you moved to Ankara? B: I had not been studying Turkish very long. USE 2 Cause of Something in the Past Using the Past Perfect Continuous before another action in the past is a good way to show cause and effect. Examples: • Jason was tired because he had been jogging. • Sam gained weight because he had been overeating. • Betty failed the final test because she had not been attending class
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:10:39 +0000
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