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Grammar reference

Tenses

Present Perfect Continuous

Activity continuing up to now, emphasising duration.

b2

Explanation

Form it with have or has been plus -ing. It stresses how long something has been happening and often explains a visible present effect. The plain perfect stresses the result or the count; the continuous stresses the process.

Examples

  • I have been waiting for forty minutes.
  • Her eyes are red because she has been crying.
  • They have been renovating the shop since March.

Common mistakes

  • I have been knowing her for years.

    I have known her for years.

    State verbs use the simple perfect.

  • I am waiting for forty minutes.

    I have been waiting for forty minutes.

    Duration up to now needs the perfect continuous.

  • I have been wrote three chapters.

    I have written three chapters.

    Counts take the simple perfect.

More Tenses

Past Perfect Continuous

Ongoing past action leading up to another past event.

Used To and Would for Past Habits

Past habits and states that are no longer true.

Choosing Tenses in a Narrative

Mixing past simple, past continuous and past perfect.

Present Simple

Facts, habits and timetables.

Present Continuous

Actions happening now or around now.