Present Perfect Continuous

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Continuemos ahora con el 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?

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?.

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?
• taken from http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfectcontinuous.html