ESL Inventory

Present Perfect Continuous: Rules, Examples & Exercises

The present perfect continuous focuses are duration, present consequences, and repeated actions that seem temporary. It highlights the duration of an activity and is used when we want to emphasize that something has been happening over a period of time up until now. We can also use for an action that has finished just now and the consequence is very visible. Try this exercise to test your knowledge on tense:

EXERCISE: Present Perfect Continuous – True/False

Choose ‘true’ if the sentence is correct, and ‘false’ is the sentence is not correct.

1 / 10

Have I been saying this wrong all along?

2 / 10

He have not been feeling well lately.

3 / 10

It has been raining nonstop since yesterday.

4 / 10

Have they been practicing for the competition?

5 / 10

I have not been working on this project since last week.

6 / 10

She has been studying for hours.

7 / 10

She’s been traveling around the world this year?

8 / 10

We have waiting for the bus for 20 minutes.

9 / 10

The children have been play outside all afternoon.

10 / 10

You haven’t been exercising regularly, have you?

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Was this too hard? Study the article below and do the exercises at the bottom of this page.

Structure

This tense is formed by using ‘has/have been’ followed by the -ing. Here’s the conjugation:

ESL Present Perfect Continuous conjugation infographic with affirmative, negative, and question forms. Learn how to use have been and has been with present participles, examples, grammar rules, and English verb tense structure.
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Example Sentences

  • “I have been studying English for three years.”
    • The action of studying started in the past (three years ago) and is still continuing now. The focus is on the duration.
  • “She has been working at the hospital all morning.”
    • She started working in the morning and is still working now, with an emphasis on how long she is working.

When we use the Present Perfect Continuous

Infographic explaining the Present Perfect Continuous tense in English. It shows three main uses: actions that started in the past and continue now (“I have been teaching online for 7 years”), actions that have just stopped with a visible result (“Have you been running?”), and temporary or repeated actions around the present (“They have been arguing a lot lately”). Focus on duration rather than result. ESL-Inventory.com
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Time Expressions

Common time expressions used with the present perfect continuous include “for,” “since,” and “lately.”

“For”: Indicates the duration of the action (how long it has been happening).

“Since”: Refers to the starting point of the action (when it began).

“Lately”: Refers to a recent period of time. It can be used to show that something has been happening recently or frequently.

“They have been waiting for an hour.”


“He has been living here since 2010.”


“I have been feeling tired lately.”

Common Confusions with Other Tenses

This tense can sometimes be confused with other tenses, especially the present perfect and present continuous. Here’s how they are different:

Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Continuous

The Present Perfect: Describes an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past and has relevance to the present. The focus is often on the result, not the duration.
Example: “I have read the book.” (The focus is on the fact that the book is read, not how long it took.)

The Present Perfect Continuous: Focuses on the duration of an action that started in the past and is still continuing or has just finished.

Example: “I have been reading the book for two hours.” (The focus is on how long the action of reading has been happening.)

Go to Present Perfect

Present Continuous vs. Present Perfect Continuous

The Present Continuous: Describes an action that is happening right now.


Example: “I am reading a book.” (The action is happening at this moment.)

The Present Perfect Continuous: Describes an action that started in the past and continues to the present, with emphasis on the duration.
Example: “I have been reading for two hours.” (The action started in the past and is still happening or just finished.)

Go to Present Continuous

Exercises on Present Perfect Continuous

EXERCISE: Write a complete sentence in the Present Perfect Continuous

Write complete sentences in the Present Perfect Continuous. Use affirmative, negative, or question forms as indicated.
Example:
Prompt: she – play the piano – all day (affirmative)
Answer: She has been playing the piano all day.

1 / 10

He – sleep – for twenty hours (negative)

2 / 10

We – travel – for a week (affirmative)

3 / 10

They – play – all day (question)

4 / 10

She – work – since morning (negative)

5 / 10

I – clean the house – all morning (affirmative)

6 / 10

I – study – for three hours (affirmative)

7 / 10

We – work – since this morning (negative)

8 / 10

You – write – for an hour (question)

9 / 10

She – read – all evening (affirmative)

10 / 10

They – wait – for the bus (question)

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More exercises: EnglishClub | PerfectEnglish | AgendaWeb1 | AgendaWeb2 | AgendaWeb3 | OxfordUP | EnglischHilfen1 | EnglischHilfen2 | Grammarism | Focus | Ego4u1 | Ego4u2 | Ego4u3 | Ego4u4 | AnglaisFacile | English4u1 | English4u2 | English4u3 | ReallyLearn1 | ReallyLearn2 | EslLounge | Liveworksheets | Wordwall1 | Wordwall2

Exercises on Positive: FocusPl1 | FocusPl2 | FocusPl3

Exercises on negative: EnglischHilfen | Ego4u

Exercise on interrogative: PerfectEnglish