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Continuous + Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous
- duration ( how long ).
I have been waiting for an hour.
- to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently. It usually shows a result now.
I am very tired because I have been running.
- it can refer to an action that has not finished.
I have been learning Chinese for ten years and I still can't speak very well.
- to show a series of actions.
They have been visiting them regularly for 20 years.
- when a situation is only temporary.
Nick has been living here for 11 months.
- this tense is often used with ' since ', ' for ', ' all week ', ' lately ', ' recently '.
I have been working here since 2001.
They have been phoning me for weeks.
Past Perfect Continuous
- to express longer actions in the past before another action in the past.
He started doing his homework at 10 o'clock.His mother arrived at 12 o'clock. When she arrived, he had been doing it for two hours.
- it is similiar to the present perfect continuous tense, but the time is past.
Tim was hungry. He had been working in the garden for three hours.
- to talk about longer situations that continued up to the moment in the past we are talking about.
By the time Ela left Poland she had been living here for 2O years.
Future Perfect Continuous
- to express that something will continue up until a particular event or time in the future ' for ten minutes ', ' for three weeks ' etc.
How long will you have been in school by the time you graduate? - For six years.
- to show cause and effect it can be used before another action in the future.
He will be hungry when he arrives because he will have been working for eight hours.
English exercise "Continuous + Perfect" created by greg100 with The test builder. [More lessons & exercises from greg100]
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