Present Perfect Continuous Tense

It is used to express a continued or ongoing action that started in past and is continued until now. There will be a time reference, such as “since 1989, for two hours etc” from which the action has been started.

Affirmative Sentences

Rule 1: Subject (Single number/third person/He,She,It) + has been + (1st Form of Verb + ing) + Object + Time reference (See Examples 1,2,3)

Rule 2: Subject (Plural number/I,You,We,They) + have been + (1st Form of Verb + ing) + Object + Time reference (See Examples 4,5)

Rule 3: Use 'for' or 'since' for showing time reference. 'Since' is for 'Point of Time'. eg. since Tuesday, since 1998, since morning, since 4 o'clock etc.

Rule 4: Use 'for' for 'Period of Time'. eg. for two days, for three months, for five hours etc.

Examples:
1. Sam has been reading this book for two hours.
2. The girl has been sleeping since morning.
3. He has been living in this house since January.
4. We have been working in this department for two months.
5. I have been washing clothes since five in the morning.

Negative Sentences

Rule 1: Subject (Single number/third person/Plural number) + has/have + not + been + (1st Form of Verb + ing) + Object + Time Reference

Examples:
1. She has not been reading for two days.
2. Rahul has not been teaching me for two years.
3. I have not been suffering from fever since Monday.

Interrogative Sentences

Rule 1: Has/Have + Subject (Single number/third person/Plural number) + been + (1st Form of Verb + ing) + Object + Time reference
(See Examples 1, 2)

Rule 2: when/why/what/where + has/have + Subject + been + (1st Form of Verb + ing) + Object + Time reference (See Examples 5, 6)

Rule 3: how much/how many/whose/which also used with their related nouns.(See Examples 4, 7)

Rule 4: If any interrogative word works like a subject then write it first then carry on with has/have + been + (1st form of verb + ing) + Object + Time Reference (See Example 8)

Rule 5: Interrogative negative sentences are just like Interrogative affirmative sentences with only use of not after subject.
Has/Have + subject + not + been + (1st form of verb + ing) + Object + Time Reference
(See example 3)

Rule 6: Must put Question Mark (?) at the end of the sentence.

Examples:
1. Has he been doing his work for three hours?
2. Have they been helping me for many years?
3. Have I not been reading my book since morning?
4. How many boys have been living in this house for one year?
5. What have you been doing here for two days?
6. Why have they been wasting their time since July?
7. Which book has the teacher been teaching since Friday?
8. Who has been waiting for you since evening?

Recommended Worksheet: Present Perfect Continuous Tense worksheet

Tenses - English to English Translation

Simple Tense

Present Simple Tense

Past Simple Tense

Future Simple Tense

Continuous Tense

Present Continuous Tense

Past Continuous Tense

Future Continuous Tense

Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Tense