form ans use of the present perfect continuous

a. Use
The Present Perfect Continuous tense is used to express continuous, ongoing actions which have already been completed at the time of speaking or writing.

In the following example, the verb in the Present Perfect Continuous tense is underlined.
e.g. The bus has been waiting for one hour.

The use of the Present Perfect Continuous tense in this example indicates that, at the time of speaking or writing, the bus has completed one hour of continuous waiting.

b. Formation
The Present Perfect Continuous tense of any English verb is formed from the Present Perfect of to be, followed by the present participle of the verb. For instance, the Present Perfect Continuous tense of the verb to work is conjugated as follows:

I have been working

you have been working

he has been working

she has been working

it has been working

we have been working

they have been working

Thus, it can be seen that the Present Perfect Continuous tense has two auxiliaries. The first auxiliary is have or has, and the second auxiliary is been.


c. Questions and negative statements
When a verb has more than one auxiliary, it is the first auxiliary which must change its form to agree with the subject of the verb. It is also the first auxiliary which is used to form questions and negative statements.

Questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject of the verb. For example:

Affirmative Statement	Question
I have been working.	Have I been working?
You have been working.	Have you been working?
He has been working.	Has he been working?
She has been working.	Has she been working?
It has been working.	Has it been working?
We have been working.	Have we been working?
They have been working.	Have they been working?

Negative statements are formed by placing the word not after the first auxiliary. For example:

Affirmative Statement	Negative Statement
I have been working.	I have not been working.
You have been working.	You have not been working.
He has been working.	He has not been working.
She has been working.	She has not been working.
It has been working.	It has not been working.
We have been working.	We have not been working.
They have been working.	They have not been working.

Negative questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject, and the word not after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted form of not follows immediately after the first auxiliary. For example:

Without Contractions	With Contractions
Have I not been working?	Haven't I been working?
Have you not been working?	Haven't you been working?
Has he not been working?	Hasn't he been working?
Has she not been working?	Hasn't she been working?
Has it not been working?	Hasn't it been working?
Have we not been working?	Haven't we been working?
Have they not been working?	Haven't they been working?

Tag questions are formed using the first auxiliary. In the following examples, the negative tag questions are underlined. For example:

Affirmative Statement	Affirmative Statement with Tag Question
I have been working.	I have been working, haven't I?
You have been working.	You have been working, haven't you?
He has been working.	He has been working, hasn't he?
She has been working.	She has been working, hasn't she?
It has been working.	It has been working, hasn't it?
We have been working.	We have been working, haven't we?
They have been working.	They have been working, haven't they?