9305 present perfect continuous

Form: have / has + been + verb + -ing

Affirmative form

You have been waiting for her for two hours.
He has been waiting for her for two hours.
Have you been waiting for her for two hours?

Interrogative form

Negative form

Has he been waiting for her for two hours?
You have not been waiting for her for two hours.
He has not been waiting for her for two hours.

Use: to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now. It is often
used instead of present perfect to emphasize the idea of continuity. Eg: She has been
working here for seven years...
Note: Some verbs are not used with the present perfect continuous: to think (expressing opinion), to
know, to like, to hate, to agree, to need, to love, to want, to hear, to have (expressing possession), etc.
1) Complete with the present perfect continuous of the verbs in the box:

Work – read – play – rethink – study – talk – wait
a. Sarah ___________________________ to her students for an hour.
b. They ____________________________ this problem.
c. Jonas ___________________________English since last year.
d. The children ______________________________ in the yard since eight o´clock.
e. Those men _______________________________ for a long time in that factory.
f. We ______________________________ for Ted for an hour.
g. I ____________________________ short stories for one month.

2) Look at Joe´s family. Each member of his family is somewhere in the house. Write sentences telling
what they have been doing there for about two hours and match with the pictures.


a. Mr. Stuart is in the family room. _______________________________________________________
b. His mother, Mrs. Stuart, is in the kitchen. ________________________________________________
c. His grandfather is in the garden. ______________________________________________________
d. Bob and Will, his brothers, are in the yard. _______________________________________________
e. Cathy, his sister, is in her bedroom._____________________________________________________

3) Ask and answer questions using the given information

Eg.: How long / you / live in a hotel / four months
_ How long have you been living in a hotel?
_ For four months.

a. How long / Joan / travel / six weeks
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
b. How long / Jeffrey / sing in this band / 2009
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
c. How long / your grandmother / sit in the garden / lunchtime
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
4) Rewrite the sentences using the present perfect continuous:
Eg.: He started studying English two months ago.
He´s been studying English for two months.

a. I started working at Ken´s company three years ago. _______________________________________

b. They began reading adventure books some years ago. _____________________________________
c. He began playing tennis six months ago. ________________________________________________
d. They started traveling in June. ________________________________________________________