Mrs. Anabel Montes - English teacher

Have/has been -ing

Have/has been –ing is the present perfect continuous:

I/we/they/you have (= I’ve, etc.)

beendoing, waiting, playing, etc.

he/she/it has (= he’s, etc.)

The present continuous describes what a person is doing.

The present perfect continuous tells how long a person has been doing that action.

Ex. Katie is delivering mail.She has been delivering mail for two hours.she has been working for the post office since 1997.

The present perfect continuous talks about an action that started in the past and continues in the present. The action is not yet complete. It tells how long the action has been in progress.

He has been washing windows since 8:00.

They have been waiting for the bus for twenty minutes.

Present perfect continuous

I

You

We

They

have

been working

since 8:00.

for two hours.He

She

It

has

Since & For

You can use the present perfect continuous foractions that are repeated over a period of time:

Debbie is a very good tennis player. She’s been playing since she was eight.

Every morning they meet in the same café. They’ve been going there for years.

For and since

For shows an amount of time.for three hoursfor ten days

Since tells when an action startedsince 2:00since he came to the United

States