PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

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A.    Penggunaan

1. Untuk menyatakan suatu peristiwa atau perbuatan yang dimulai pada waktu lampau dan masih berlangsung sampai sekarang, bahkan mungkin sampai waktu yang akan datang.
2. Untuk menyatakan suatu peristiwa atau perbuatan yang dilakukan pada waktu lampau secara berulang-ulang sampai sekarang.

B.     Keterangan waktu

1. for …

-          menyatakan lamanya atau jangka waktu peristiwa (for + a duration time)

2. since ….

-          menyatakan saat suatu perbuatan terjadi/mulai (since + a particular time).

3. long
4. all the day
5. the whole day

C.    Susunan kalimat

1. Positive (+)

(+) Subject + have/has + been + Ving + Object

Subject	has/have	been	Verb III	Object
I You We They	have	been	writing buying cleaning playing	a story a shirt the room tennis
He She It	has		going giving swimming	to school a present very fast

2. Negative (-)

Subject	has/have	not	been	Verb III	Object
I You We They	have	not	been	writing buying cleaning playing	a story a shirt the room tennis
He She It	has			going giving swimming	to school a present very fast

3. Interrogative (?)

(?) Have/Has + S + been + V ing + Object ?

Have/Has	Subject	been	Verb III	Object
Have	I You We They	been	writing buying cleaning playing	a story? a shirt? the room? tennis?
Has	He She It		going giving swimming	to school? a present? very fast

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 has		been		base + ing

Here are some examples of the present perfect continuous tense:

	subject	auxiliary verb		auxiliary verb	main verb
+	I	have		been	waiting	for one hour.
+	You	have		been	talking	too much.
-	It	has	not	been	raining.
-	We	have	not	been	playing	football.
?	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 She has been It has been John has been The car has been	He's been She's been It's been John's been The car'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.
past	present	future
!!!
Recent action.	Result now.

• 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.
past	present	future
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.]

For and Since with Present Perfect Continuous Tense

We often use for and since with the present perfect tense.

• We use for to talk about a period of time - 5 minutes, 2 weeks, 6 years.
• We use since to talk about a point in past time - 9 o'clock, 1st January, Monday.

for	since
a period of time	a point in past time
	x
20 minutes	6.15pm
three days	Monday
6 months	January
4 years	1994
2 centuries	1800
a long time	I left school
ever	the beginning of time
etc	etc

Here are some examples:

• I have been studying for 3 hours.
• I have been watching TV since 7pm.
• Tara hasn't been feeling well for 2 weeks.
• Tara hasn't been visiting us since March.
• He has been playing football for a long time.
• He has been living in Bangkok since he left school.

For can be used with all tenses. Since is usually used with perfect tenses only.

The present perfect continuous tense is often used (with for or since) to describe how long something has been happening up to now.

Present Perfect Continuous Timeline

For example:-
Q) How long have you been studying English?"
A) I've been studying English for four years."
Note - You can just say "For four years."
Q) How long have you been living in Germany?
A) I've been living here since 1998.
Note - You can just say "Since 1998".
The present perfect continuous is also used to refer to an event that may or may not be finished when it's effect can be seen now.
For example:-
Look! It's been snowing.
Note - It's not necessarily snowing now but you can see the effect (the snow on the ground).
You should also use the present perfect continuous when talking about how long you have been doing your current job or working on unfinished projects:-
For example:-
I have been working at BT for three years.
We have been exporting to China since 1999.
!Note It is always for a length of time and since a point in time