by Magda D. Healey

Created on: February 05, 2010

Present Perfect Progressive, or Present Perfect Continuous is an English tense that students find significantly easier to grasp that Present Perfect Simple.

=== Construction and syntax ===

Present Perfect Progressive affirmative statements are formulated using Present Participle according to the following model:

SUBJECT - HAVE/HAS - BEEN -VERB + ING

She has been sitting here for the last hour.

We have been waiting since 5am.

My whole team has been practicing a lot recently.

The question in Present Perfect Progressive is constructed by inverting the word order, while keeping all the other words exactly as they were in the affirmative statement. The question word, if used, goes at the very begging.

(WHO/WHAT/WHY/WHERE etc) -HAVE/HAS - SUBJECT - BEEN -VERB + ING?

How long have you been waiting?

Has she been working on this project long?

Where have you been going to play football?

The negative statements in Present Perfect Progressive are constructed by adding NOT to the sentence, while keeping all the other words exactly as they were in the affirmative.

SUBJECT - HAVE/HAS -NOT- BEEN -VERB + ING

She has been waiting long.

We have not been working together since 1999.

Recently, our employers have been co-operating closely.

Contractions can be used in the word "have/has".

She's been working on this for the last two weeks.

We've been standing here for ages.

Henry hasn't been seeing Mary for long.

has been = 's been

has not been = hasn't been

have been = 've been

have not been = haven't been

=== Usage ===

Present Perfect Progressive is used to describe an action that started at the specific point of time in the past and is still going on.

Present Perfect Progressive is very frequently used with "for" and "since" words.

She's been studying for ten years.

My parents have been playing bridge since they joined the local club.

Present Perfect Progressive can also be used to indicate continuous actions recently/lately.

I have been feeling great recently.

What have you been doing?

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This tense is nowhere near as difficult for learners of English as Present Perfect, as the rules are simpler. The biggest difficulty is probably in deciding whether to use Present Perfect Simple or Present Perfect Progressive in case of "since" and "for" usages, and particularly with non-continuous words. And thus:

We have been seeing each other for five years.

BUT

I have had a girlfriend for five years.

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