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PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:
It is also known as present perfect progressive tense.

WHEN TO USE:
It is used for an action that started or began sometime ago in the past and is still going on.
Eg:
1. She has been writing for an hour.
2. They have been working since morning.
3. Akash has been staying with his parents since his childhood.

HOW TO USE (STRUCTURE):
S + HAS BEEN/HAVE BEEN + V1 + ING + OBJECT.
Eg:
1. We have been playing since 7 am.
2. She has been suffering from cancer for 20 years.
3. Akbar has been running the school since 1st June, 1998.
4. You have been working there for 5 years.
6. She has been learning music for five weeks.

‘Has been’ is used for 3rd person singular (he, she, it) whereas ‘Have been’ is used for other persons (I, we, you, you) and 3rd person plural (they).

FOR:
The preposition ‘for’ is used for duration of time such as for two weeks, for three years, for five days, for ten hours, etc,.

SINCE:
The preposition ‘since’ is used for point of time such as since Monday, since April, since 2001, since 3rd September, since 22nd December 2008, since 10 pm. , since morning, since evening, etc,.

Main difference between present perfect and present perfect continuous tense:
For both these tense forms, the action begins in the past but present perfect is used when that action gets completed at the time of speaking, and present perfect continuous tense is used if that action is still going on at the time of speaking.

We cannot use this tense form for some verbs such as ‘own’.
For example, we should not say – He has been owning that building since 2000. It is incorrect. Instead, we should say it in present perfect tense – He has owned that building since 2000. We can also say – He has been the owner of that building since 2000. Even though he is still the owner of that building, we must say it in present perfect tense only. So, this is an exception case for the above difference or for the definition of this tense form itself.

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