Present perfect continuous tense | Correct use

The present perfect continuous tense shows that an action started in the past, has continued up to the present and is still continuing.

• Alice has been knitting a sweater since morning.
• Scientists have been planning a manned mission to Mars.
• The anxious father has been waiting for a letter from his son.
• We have been waiting for hours.

Grammar Notes

The question form in this tense will be as follows:

• Have you been waiting for hours? (Have/has + subject + been + present participle + adverbials/complements)
• Has Alice been knitting a sweater?

Since the action started in the past and has been continuing ever since, the only point of time that can be mentioned is such a sentence is the time when the action started.

• He has been working here since 1995.
• She has been waiting for a bus since 8 o'clock.

You can also mention the period of time during which the action has been going on.

• He has been working here for seven years.
• She has been waiting for a bus for one hour.

Common errors

• We have been working all yesterday. (Wrong)
• We worked all yesterday. (Right)
• It has been raining during the whole of last week. (Wrong)
• It rained during the whole of last week. (Right)

Sections in this article

Tenses worksheet for grade 10 CBSE
CBSE class 10 English grammar - sentence completion exercise 1
CBSE class 10 English grammar - sentence completion exercise 2
Degrees of comparison exercises
Simple present tense worksheet
Using adjective clauses
Since or For
Using since and for: grammar exercise
Joining two sentences into a single compound sentence