The Present Perfect Tense vs. the Present Perfect Continuous(Progressive)Tense
EXERCISES
| Exercise 1. | Which form is correct (the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous)? |
| 1. | We want to tell how we have spent our time. |
| a) | We have played volleyball. |
| b) | We have been playing volleyball. |
| 2. | I want to emphasize that the window is open now. |
| a) | Sally has opened the window. |
| b) | Sally has been opening the window. |
| 3. | The action is completed now. |
| a) | Boris has sent the letter. |
| b) | Boris has been sending the letter. |
| 4. | I want to tell how I have spent my time: |
| a). | I have watched TV. |
| b). | I have been watching TV. |
| 5. | I want to tell how Lora has spent her time. |
| a) | She has read a book. |
| b) | She has been reading a book. |
| 6. | Tom wants to emphasize that the room is tidy now. |
| a) | I have tidied up my room. |
| b) | I have been tidying up my room. |
| Exercise 2. | For each situation, write two sentences using the words in brackets. |
| Model: | Tom started reading a book three hours ago. He is still reading it and now he is on page 75. |
| (read/for three hours) He has been reading for three hours. | |
| (read/75 pages so far) He has read 75 pages so far. |
| 1. | Lucy is from Canada. Now she is traveling round Europe. She began her trip two months ago. |
| (travel / for two months) | |
| (visit / five countries so far) | |
| 2. | Leo is a tennis champion. He began playing tennis when he was nine years old. Now he has just won the national championship for the fourth time. |
| (win / the national championships / four times) | |
| (play / tennis since he was nine) | |
| 3. | Sam and Paul make films. They start making films together when they left college. |
| (they / make / films since they left college) | |
| (they / make / ten films since they left college) |
| Exercise 3. | Choose the correct form (the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous) . |
| 1. | How long have you ____ (learnt / been learning) the piano? |
| 2. | How much of that book have you ____ (read / been reading)? |
| 3. | How long have you ____ (read / been reading) that book? |
| 4. | It has ____ (rained / been raining) since Monday. |
| 5. | Kate has ____ (written / been writing) seven letters today. |
| 6. | We’ve ____ (worked / been working) really hard for a couple of months. |
| 7. | Have you ____ (talked / been talking) on the phone since five o’clock? |
| 8. | My computer has ____ (crashed / been crashing) three times this morning. |
| 9. | They haven’t ____ (arrived / been arriving) yet, but they should be here soon. |
| 10. | I have ____ (learnt / been learning) how to play chess for three years now. |
| 11. | How long have you ____ (played / been playing) tennis? |
| 12. | How many games have you ____ (played / been playing)? |
| Exercise 4. | Some verbs are not used in continuous forms. Choose the correct tense (the Present Perfect or the Present Continuous) . |
| 1. | How long ____ French? (you / learn) |
| 2. | How long ____ Jane? (she / know) |
| 3. | We ____ our home for several years. (own) |
| 4. | Homer ____ Marge since they were in high school. (love) |
| 5. | We ____ for a new house since May. (look) |
| 6. | I ____ the house but I still haven’t finished. (clean) |
| 7. | He ____ her help for many years. (need) |
| 8. | He ____ to rent a car for two hours. (try) |
| 9. | My parents ____ this car for about eight years. (have) |
| 10. | We ____ the noise for an hour already. (hear) |
| Exercise 5. | Correct the mistakes. |
| 1. | We have not been noticing any change in the tested bar for two hours. |
| 2. | I has been working on the same company for twelve years. |
| 3. | I have been loving Spain since I first went there ten years ago. |
| 4. | We’ve visited so many fascinating places last year. |
| 5. | I haven’t hearing of him for the last three years. |
| 6. | How long games have you played? |
| 7. | We have been stayed in this hotel nearly a month. |
| 8. | We are very tired because we have been walking in the mountains for early morning. |
| 9. | I’ve been watching this movie twice already! |
| 10. | How many havewebeen watchingthis film? |
| Exercise 6. | It is 12 o’clock. The following people all started work earlier this morning. Look at the information and say how long they have been working and how much work they have done so far, as in the example. |
| Model: | Sarah’s been typing since 10 o ’ clock / for two hours. |
| She’s typed fifteen letters so far. |
| Name | Started Activity | Completed |
| Sarah | 10 / type | 15 letters |
| Mike | 8 / deliver parcels | 35 parcels |
| Jane | 11 / translate texts | 3 texts |
| Alice | 10 / draw pictures | 2 pictures |
| Fred | 7.30 / clean the house | 4 rooms |
| Laura | 9 / examine patients | 6 patients |
| Tom | 8.30 / repair cars | 3 cars |
| Exercise 7. | A. Steve has a job interview. Complete the dialogue with the appropriate tenses (the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous) for the verbs in brackets. |
| Mr. Allen: Mr. Harris: Mr. Allen: Mr. Harris: Mr. Allen: Mr. Harris: Mr. Allen: Mr. Harris: Mr. Allen: Mr. Harris: Mr. Allen: | So tell me a little bit about yourself, Mr. Harris. I would like to find out a little bit more about your background. I 1.____ (work) in the insurance industry for over twelve years. I worked for Banner Life for six years and Quasar Insurance for five and a half. During that time, I heard many good things about Liberty Life Insurance and that’s why I 2.____ (apply) for the new sales position. Tell me a little about your hobbies and interests. In my spare time, I hike in the mountains outside of town, volunteer at the Sierra Club and play tennis. In fact, I 3.____ (compete) in a tennis tournament this weekend. Really, how long 4.____ (you, play) tennis? I 5.____ (play) since high school. I’m keen on sport. Great! We like dedication here at Liberty Life. You mentioned you volunteer at the Sierra Club. I 6.____ (work, currently) with them on the sea turtle project. We 7.____ (try) to create a wildlife sanctuary near the bay. Do you know Mark Harris? He’s my brother. He 8.____ (work, presently) on the same project. I know Mark quite well. Any brother of Mark’s would be a welcome addition to Liberty Life. Just one more thing, we 9.____ (look) for somebody who is fluent in Spanish; many of our clients are from Mexico. No problem. I 10.____ (study) Spanish since elementary school. Sounds like you are the perfect candidate. |
| B. Write down what have you learnt about Mr. Harris’s background. |
| Exercise 8. | Work in pairs. In pairs, imagine that one of you is a chef of a computer firm; you are going to interview a person, who is eager to work for you. Try to find out as much information about this person (biography, experience, interests etc.) as possible. Don’t forget to use the Present Perfect or the Present Perfect Continuous Tenses. |
