Everybody knows that Brazilian ex-president Mr. da Silva (Lula) was one of the best South American president ever. Moreover, he was a working class hero that showed the world how to start making a country a better place to live in.
Now he is studying English just by reading PORTAL DA LÍNGUA INGLESA. Of course, I am just kidding. In fact, in this picture he is using a very difficult tense in English – the present perfect continuous tense. Do you know how to use it?
GRAMMAR:
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
I have been singing |
How do we make the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?
The structure of the present perfect continuous tense is:
subject | + | auxiliary verb | + | auxiliary verb | + | main verb |
have has | been | base + ing |
Here are some examples of the present perfect continuous tense:
subject | auxiliary verb | auxiliary verb | main verb | |||
+ | I | have | been | waiting | for one hour. | |
+ | You | have | been | talking | too much. | |
- | It | has | not | been | raining. | |
- | We | have | not | been | playing | football. |
? | Have | you | been | seeing | her? | |
? | Have | they | been | doing | their homework? |
Contractions
When we use the present perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first auxiliary. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.
I have been | I've been |
You have been | You've been |
He has been She has been It has been John has been The car has been | He's been She's been It's been John's been The car's been |
We have been | We've been |
They have been | They've been |
Here are some examples:
