How to Use the Present Perfect Continuous

today we've got a grammar lesson for you we're going to look at the present perfect continues now this is the important piece of grammar and you need to know it well and it's important for me to to get the explanation right so I've been thinking about this all day I'd be doing research I've been drinking coffee and I've been working really hard and now I'm going to share with you all I know and by the end of this video I promise you I promise you you'll know it perfectly too so stay tuned hello and welcome to let them talk the channel that goes deeper into everything about the English language so the present perfect continuous it talks about an action that starts in the past and continues up to the present or just before the present now have a look at this graph this is the past and this is now you know what let's look at this a different way okay think of it look this way okay so this is a story of a romance between the handsome present perfect tense and the beautiful present continuous and they have a child and they call that child the present perfect continuous yes that's right this is probably the best way to think about the present perfect continuous its a mix between these two tenses okay sounds a bit strange but stay with me I have been teaching English for 15 years and I'll show you what I mean so the present continuous is a present tense while the present perfect despite its name is a past tense most of the time yes that's right the present perfect is in fact a past tense will have little some exceptions later and the present perfect continuous is both a present and the past tense at the same time so the present perfect continuous has inherited its present qualities from the president in ewis The Mummy if you like in this story and it's past qualities from the present perfect their daddy okay and the present perfect continuous shares the features of both its so answer the following questions what am i doing I'm drinking coffee okay I present continuous I'm drinking coffee okay what am i doing I'm writing what am i doing that's why I'm thinking what am i doing I'm waiting okay so you get the idea that's the present continuous now any verb that you can use in the present continuous you can also use in the present perfect continuous yes that's very important any verb you can use in the present continuous you can also use in the present perfect continuous by instead of talking about this moment now we are linking the past until now or just before now okay so let's look at those examples I gave you before okay so what am i doing I'm drinking coffee how long have you been drinking coffee I've been drinking coffee for the last half hour what am i doing I'm writing how long do we in writing I've been writing for two hours okay what are you doing I'm thinking how long have you been thinking I've been thinking about this for a long time and what am i doing I'm waiting how long have you been waiting I've been waiting for two hours for ages okay so all the verbs you can use in the present continuous you can use in the present perfect continuous okay and and of course verbs that you cannot use in the present continuous you cannot use in the present perfect continuous now so those verbs that you cannot use in a continuous tense present continuous or present perfect continuous are called stative verbs yes that's right stative verbs okay you may have heard the term and these are verbs that are States okay you can find a list of stative verbs on the internet but in my opinion most of the time you don't need to memorize them by listening to English speakers and reading in English you'll get the idea of what is a stative verb and not a stated verb and it'll come naturally so for example I've known John for five years okay so the verb to know is a stative verb the state of knowing somebody so you cannot say I'd be knowing John for five years okay I've had this car for I don't know ten years okay but I've had this car for for ten years possession is a state you do not say I've been having this car for ten years but I'm sure you already know that be careful though there are some verbs which are both stated and non stative I'll just give you one example would be the verb to think so if you're considering an idea then this is an active verb okay I'm considering an idea I'm thinking about becoming a vegetarian so you can use it in the continuous tense but when you have an opinion about something and think is a stative verb okay I think you're beautiful okay yes you are so be aware of that so now let's have a look at the present perfect and see how this plays out in this wonderful romance so most of the time most of the time the present perfect is in fact a past tense it talks about experiences and actions in the past let's have a look at some examples I've been to Malaysia okay as a past experience I've seen this film a past action or past experience I've cleaned my shoes it's a past action she's never met the Queen past experience that didn't happen now the present perfect continuous usually refers to things that include the present time whereas the present perfect is just about the past I've been reading this book okay so it's not finished I've read this book it was completed sometime in the past I forgotten my keys it happened in the past I'd been looking for my keys for the last hour and I'm still looking for them so that's including the present time so the present perfect is a past tense and the present perfect continuous is a past tense that also includes present time okay we'll we will look at some exceptions in a moment so the present perfect continuous we can use for continuous actions in the past that continue until the present moment I've been waiting for this bus for an hour I've been waiting for this bus for an hour that's a continuous action you can also use a present perfect continuous for repetitive actions that continue up to now okay I've been playing tennis since I was 15 okay so that's not a continuous action it's a repetitive action you've done it many times until the present time okay now there are a small number of verbs that may be used both in the present perfect continuous or the present perfect to live for example okay and here by the way there is there's no change of meaning I've been living in this apartment for five years but if you've been in the place a long time you might consider the situation as a state of something permanent rather than an action I've lived in this town all my life so be aware that you might hear both forms from native speakers for the verb to live and the verb to work follows the same pattern I've been working here for six months but maybe person who's working considers his job something permanent so might say something like I've worked here since I left University I've worked here since I left University that's a present perfect and it's also correct so both the correct I've been working here and I've worked here it's just what the speaker is trying to convey the message is trying to say okay so if you think something is permanent you can use the present perfect but as I said both are correct sometimes you can use the present perfect continuous for past actions but only in these conditions one the action happened recently and two the results of the actions are clear and they are important to us now and this form we often used to give two explanations to things as to why something has happened okay so let's look at some examples I'm tired because I've been working all day okay the working is finished but I'm still tired so I say I'm tired because I've been working all day she's been drinking wine and now she's drunk she's been drinking wine and now she's drunk so she stopped at your wine but she's still drunk the streets are wet because it's been raining okay it's still wet that's important to us now okay and you can sometimes use it with a negative you haven't been studying you've been partying and now you're gonna fail your exam okay so there you are that was a beautiful story wasn't it and we also have a video about the past perfect continuous the video about the difference between the present perfect and the past simple and I'll put a link to both videos in the description so thank you for watching and as always stay mellow and I'll see you in the next video [Music]

Channel: LetThemTalkTV

Views: 48,355

Keywords: present perfect continuous, present perfect progressive, tense, English grammar, learn English, yt:cc=on, letthemtalktv, Gideon, English teacher, British pronunciation, present continuous, present perfect, present progressive

Id: QETVYj_b5xo

Length: 12min 40sec (760 seconds)

Published: Thu May 03 2018