Grammar Practice in Context - David Bolton, Noel Goodey 1997

11 The present perfect continuous: He’s been waiting for hours

Quick reference

We form the present perfect continuous with have/has + been + -ing.

We use the present perfect continuous:

• to talk about a temporary action that started in the past, that has continued over a period of time and is still continuing now. We often use it with for and since to say how long an action has been happening.

• to talk about repeated actions which have continued over a period of time up to now.

• to talk about an action which started in the past, which continued over a period, and has just stopped.

1 Describe what has been happening in this picture. Write four sentences, using these verbs.

fish

swim

collect

dig

1 The men ...

2 The woman ...

3 The dog ...

4 The girls ...

2 Claudine, a French girl, lives in London. Match the sentences, giving the correct form of the verb in the second column.

1 She’s got a flat in south London.

2 Her English is very good.

3 She’s got an English boyfriend.

4 They’re going on holiday next month.

5 She’s a bi-lingual secretary.

6 She’s worried about her father.

7 She doesn’t like being so far away.

a) They (go out) ... together since last May.

b) They (save) ... money for months.

c) She (work) … for a French firm for two years.

d) She (live) ... in it for a year.

e) She (think) ... of moving back to France.

f) She (learn) ... it for eight years.

g) He (have) ... problems with his heart.

1... 2... 3... 4... 5... 6... 7...

3 Four young men and two young women share a big house, it is 7 o’clock in the evening. Write sentences using the present perfect continuous + for. Choose from these verbs:

watch

read

get

ready

talk

lie

cook

1 Joel arrived home at 6.30 and started to read a magazine. He’s still reading it.

He ... for half an hour.

2 Michael went into the kitchen at 6.00. He’s still there.

... for an hour.

3 Emily came home at 5.30 with a headache. She went up to her bedroom and lay down on her bed.

She’s still there. ...

4 Toby came home at 6.15 and phoned Naomi. He’s still on the phone.

He ...

5 Matthew got home at 5.00 and switched on the TV. It’s still on.

He ...

6 A boy phoned at 5.45 and invited Lucy to a party. She’s still in the bathroom.

She ...

4 Look carefully at this dialogue in a doctor’s surgery. Some of the lines are correct and some have a mistake, if a line is correct put a tick (/) after it. If a line has a mistake in it, underline the mistake and write the correction in the brackets.

Doctor: Have you been waiting long?

Patient: No, I’ve only been wait for a few minutes.

Doctor: Now, you haven’t felt well, is that right?

Patient: That’s right. In fact, I’ve been feeling really ill.

I had terrible headaches.

Doctor: How long have you been having these headaches?

Patient: I had them since the beginning of the month.

Doctor: Have you worried about anything?

Patient: Yes, I’ve been worrying about an exam.

And I haven't slept.

Doctor: Well, I suggest you try these pills. People are using them for years and I think they’ll help you.