The Present Perfect Continuous is used:
1. to express an action which began in the past,occupied a period of time up to the present and is still continuing. (in progress)
I have been peeling potatoes for half an hour, but Mother says there isn’t enough for everybody. (still continuing)
It is generally used with:
-since (an adverb, a preposition or a conjunction denoting the starting point of the action).See the Present Perfect Tense.
- for (denoting the whole period of duration);
- all (all day, all morning, all my life);
- these (these three years);
Lately, recently etc.
- how long*, since when (in questions)
John has been looking for a job since he graduated.
I have been teaching at this school for 10 years.
We have been staying here all this week. (гостим)
I have been working these seven days.
George hasn’t been feeling very well recently.
How long have you been working at the problem?
* Note: If the period of time refers to the past we use the Past Indefinite Tense.
How long have you been studying French? (учишь)
How long did you study French at school? (учил)
2. to express an action which began in the past, occupied a period of time up to the present but is no longer going on at the present moment.
-Why are your hands dirty?
-I have been peeling potatoes.
3. with an emotional colouring.
I suppose you have been telling lies again.
Trouble Spots.
Present Perfect versus Present Perfect Continuous
1) when we are interested in 1)when we describe the
the result of the action activity.
, not in the action itself It doesn’t matter whether
The important thing is that something has been
something finished. finished or not.
The ceiling was white. Now it’s Ann’s clothes are blue covered in paint. She has painted the She has been painting the ceiling. ceiling.
2) to say how much we have done, 2)to say how long
how many things we have done, something has been
how many times we have done happening.
something.
Ann has written ten letters today. Ann has been writing letters all day.
How many pages of that book have How long have you been reading
you read? that book?
Jim has played tennis three times Jim has been playing tennis since
this week.2 o’clock.
3)We can use both Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous for the action that started in the past and continuous up to the present and possibly into future. But the Present Perfect Continuous puts more emphasis on the continuity of the action.
We’ve been living in Sumy for three years.
We’ve lived in Sumy for three years.
He has played football for five years.
He has been playing football for five years.
4) Present Perfect is used for the situations which exist for a long time and still exist, but for shorter periods Present Perfect Continuous is used.
John have been living in London since January.
John has always lived in London.
Past Indefinite
The Past Indefinite is used:
- to state simple facts or completed actions in the past:
She was beautiful.
I didn’t see you at the theatre.
Your mother phoned a few minutes ago.
The Past Indefinite refers actions to past time quite separate from the present. It is often associated with the following adverbs and adverbial expressions of past time: yesterday, the day before yesterday, last night (week, month, summer, year, Sunday etc.), an hour ago (and other adverbials with ago), on the 1st of September, on Sunday (Monday…), the other day, in 2005, during the war etc.
I went to Greece for my holidays last year.
Shakespeare died in 1616.
- to denote habitual actions in the past.
On Sunday evenings he took her to the pictures.
3. to denote a succession of past actions:
We went to the park, walked down to the fountain and sat down on a stone seat.
4. in narration.
There was once a man who lived in a small house in the country. One day he left his house and went into town. On the way he met …
5. to denote actions in the progress in the past (with statal verbs only).
He was not listening but still heard what they were speaking about.
6. to denote future actions in subordinate adverbial clauses of time and condition.
She asked me to keep an eye on the child while she was away.
Trouble Spots
Note: Habitual actions are often expressed by:
used to + Infinitive
I remember I used to climb that oak.
Used to is also used for past situations or states (which no longer exist)
He used to be very strong in his youth.
The negative construction of used to is formed in one two ways: didn’t used to (didn’t use to) and used not to.
He didn’t used (didn’t use) to call on me on week days.
I used not to bathe till after breakfast.
The interrogative construction is:
did (he) used to? (did (he)use to)
Did she used to (did she use to) write her articles at night?
However in British English the interrogative construction used (he) to may also occur.
Used you to make the fairy stories up out of your own head?
would + Infinitive (without the particle to)
In the afternoon he would go out alone and walk for hours.
Used to is more colloquial and would is more literary.
Past Continuous
The Past Continuous is used:
- to denote a continuous action in progress at a definite moment in the past. The definite moment may be indicated by:
a) adverbials of time such as at 7 o’clock, at that time, then, still, at midnight, at noon, etc.
Yesterday at 5 o’clock I was having tea in London.
b) another past action expressed by a verb in the Past Indefinite:
When we arrived, she was making some coffee.
He was walking across the bridge when his hat blew off.
c) the previous context, or understood from the situation.
I stood motionless, as if glued to the ground. The enormous black bull was galloping towards me at full speed.
2. to express an action characteristic of the subject at a given period of time in the past (compare with a similar use of the Present Continuous Tense):
I was very busy at the end of June, I was preparing for my last examination then.
3. to express incompleteness when contrasted with the Past Simple:
He read a book yesterday (and finished it).
He was reading a book yesterday (we don’t know whether he finished reading it or not).
4. to denote an action filling up a whole period of time, but only when the action is considered in its progress (after such phrases as the whole day, all day long, from… till )
We were quarrelling all day long yesterday.
She says she was washing from six till eight.
Note: When the period of time in the past is marked by such adverbials as for an hour, for five years, etc. the Past Indefinite is used instead of thePast Continuous.
They waited for us for an hour.
5. to denote actions characteristic of certain persons in the past (usually with emotional colouring). In this case the adverbs always and constantly are used.
As I remember her, she was always fussing over something.
She was constantly complaining of being lonely.
6. to express an action in the immediate future when that future moment is viewed from the past (especially with the verbs to go, to come, to stay, to leave, to start)
You wrote that you were coming this evening.
7. to express polite inquiries:
I was wondering if you could give me a lift.
Trouble Spots.
1. The verbs to stand, to sit, to lie expressing actions in progress at a certain moment in the past are commonly used in the Past Indefinite, if they are followed by Participle I
They stood by the door, talking loudly.
He lay in bed trying to forget what had happened.
2. The Past Continuous Tense is used to express two parallel actions in progress in both the principal and the subordinate clause (sentences with while).
While I was working in the garden, my wife was cooking dinner.
But: the repetition of the same form in both clauses is usually avoided.
While we dined, the band was playing, or:
While we were dining, the band played.
Past Perfect
Past Perfect is used:
1. to refer an action to an earlier past (an action completed before a given past moment). This moment may be indicated:
a) by adverbial of time such as by six o clock, by that time, by the end of the week, by then, and so on.
By that time the sun had set.
b) by another action in the Past Indefinite:
When I had read the letter, I started to cry.
Fortunately the rain had stopped before we started.
c) or can be made clear by the whole context.
I opened the window. The rain had stopped, but the sharp east wind was still blowing.
2. as the past equivalent of the Present Perfect:
Ann and Michael have just got married.
It was June 2005. Ann and Michael had just got married.
3. in adverbial clauses of time and condition to express an action already completed by a given future moment when that future moment is viewed from the past (Sequence of tenses)
He promised he would ring me up when he had got a definite answer.
4. to express an action or state which began before a definite moment in the past, continued up to that moment and sometimes into it (with verbs which do not normally take continuous forms):
a) the starting point of the action is indicated by since.
(an adverb, a preposition, or a conjunction introducing a subordinate clause)
She had never come near the house since that night three years ago.
She began to do all the things she had wanted to do since she moved to the house.
b) the whole period of duration is indicated by means of the preposition for:
He had been ill for several days when I called on him.
5. with the conjunctions as soon as, hardly/ scarcely / barely…when, no sooner…than:
As soon as I had told her the news, I regretted it.
We had hardly gone to bed when somebody knocked at the door.
He had no sooner got well than he fell ill again.
Note:
For the sake of emphasis the word order may be inverted.
Hardly had we gone to bed when somebody knocked at the door.
No sooner had he got well than he fell ill again.
Trouble Spots
- The Past Indefinite Tense is sometimes used instead of the Past Perfect in clauses introduced by before and after when it is perfectly clear which event came first:
After he left the house, he recollected that he had not locked the door.
2. Verbs of motion and sense perception such as to come, to arrive, to return, to see, to hear, in adverbial clauses of time are generally used in the Past Indefinite and not in the Past Perfect. In this case the actions closely follow each other.
When he heard the first line of the poem, he recognized it at once.
When the completion of the action is emphasized the Past Perfect is used.
He knew the poem by heart, when he had heard it several times.
- Notice the use of the Past Perfect and the Past Indefinite.
He had closed the window and was sitting in his armchair, reading a newspaper.
He closed the window, sat down at his desk and began reading
his newspaper (a succession of past actions).
- In when clauses.
The Past Perfect is used when we need to make it clear that the event in the when clause was completed before the event in the Past Indefinite started:
When I had read the letter, I started to cry.
(I finished the letter before I started to cry.)
Compare with:
When I read the letter, I s tarted to cry.
(I started to cry after I started reading the letter.)
Note: As the action in a when + Past Indefinite clause happens just before the other Past Indefinite clause, it is not generally necessary to use the Past Perfect in the when clause. We only do this when we need to make it clear that the event in the when clause was completed before the event in the Past Indefinite clause started.
Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect Continuous is used:
- to denote an action in progress that began before a certain moment of time in the past and continued into it.
I was very tired when I met you because I had been riding a bicycle for two hours.
It is generally used with:
- since (an adverb, a preposition, or a conjunction denoting the starting point of the action):
- for (a preposition, denoting the whole period of duration: for two hours, for about a year, etc.)
- all (such adverbial expressions as all that month, all the time, all day, all his life, etc.)
- those (those two years)
- of late, etc.
He said he had returned from abroad two years ago and had been working in a newspaper office since.
He said he had been working in a newspaper office since his return from abroad.
He said he had been working in a newspaper office since he returned from abroad.
They had been quarreling for nearly three quarters of an hour.
I knew they had been corresponding for years.
Sometimes it is indicated directly by adverbials (by that time, by the 1st of august, etc.).
By the first of July they had been living at the seaside for a fortnight.
The moment of time in the past before which the action began is usually indicated by a subordinate clause of time (another past action in the Past Indefinite)
Ann had been strolling about the beach before I was up.
- to denote an action in progress that began before a certain moment of time in the past and continued up to that moment, but not into it.
Her eyes were red. I saw she had been crying.
Trouble Spots
1. Both the Past Perfect and the Past Perfect Continuous are possible in negative sentences though the Past Perfect Continuous is far less common.
В отрицательных предложениях the Past Perfect Continuous употребляется в том случае, если имеется частичное отрицание действия, например:
When he came back we tried to Когда он вернулся, pretend that we had not been мы постарались сделать discussing him. вид, что мы обсуждали
совсем не его.
(В предложении отрицается не действие обсуждать, а объект
обсуждения.)
При полном отрицании действия употребляется the Past Perfect, например:
I was told that the sisters had not Мне сказали, что
met since their mother’s death. сестры (совсем)
не встречались со
смерти их матери.
2. Notice the use of the Past Perfect Continuous and the Past Continuous.
The Past Continuous is used to denote an action going on at a definite moment in the past, no previous duration is expressed. The Past Perfect Continuous is used when the previous duration is expressed.
She had been sleeping for an hour when I left home.
She was sleeping when I left home.
The Past Perfect Continuous may be used without any time indication, the time of the anterior duration of the action being clear from the context or situation.
Compare:
When I arrived, everyone was sitting round the table with their mouths full. They were eating.
When I arrived everyone was sitting round the table and talking.Their mouths were empty but their stomachs were full. They had been eating.
