Grammar- Present Flashcards
Present perfect continuous: To express the idea of and activity in progress until recently or until the time of speaking.
Have you been working in the garden all day? You look exhausted.
She’s been writing the book since she was in her twenties and at last it’s finished.
Do not use Present perfect continuous with verbs such as belong, know, (dis)like and understand.
Have you known each other long?
I have not liked ice cream since I ate too much and was sick.
Talk about situations; general characteristics or circumstances that exist until the present.
We have been looking (looked) forward to this holiday for ages.
We often use present perfect or present perfect continuous to talk about something that has recently finished if we can still see its results.
He has broken his finger and is in a lot of pain.
I have been playing squash and need a shower.
We use the present perfect continuous rather than the present perfect when we draw a conclusion from what we can see, hear, etc. We often use this form to complain or criticize.
Who has been messing around with my papers? They are all over the place.
You have been eating chocolate, haven’t you? there is some on your shirt.
When we talk about the result of circumstances or an activity, we use the present perfect. When we focus on the process we often use either the present perfect or present perfect continuous.
Prices have decreased by 7%.
Prices have been decreasing recently. (or prices have decreased…)
I have used three tins of paint on the kitchen walls.
I have been using a new kind of paint on the kitchen walls. (or I have used…)
Present perfect continuous emphasizes that an activity is ongoing and repeated, while present perfect suggests the activity happened only once or on a specified number of occasions.
Miguel has been kicking a football against the wall all day.
Workers have been calling for the chairman’s resignation. (emphasizes a number of times, probably over an extended period)
He has played for the national team in 65 matches so far.
Workers have called for management to begin negotiations on pay. (maybe a number of times or only once)
Martina Gonzales has been staying in a rented flat since returning to Buenos Aires.
We have stayed at this hotel a couple of times before.
All day, the police have been stopping motorists to question them about the accident.
Good, the noise has stopped. I can start concentrating on my work again.
I have not read any of Dickens’ novels.
I have been reading this book on astrophysics and I am still only on page six.
Dr. Fletcher has been giving the same lecture to students for the last ten years.
Mr. Sato has given nearly a million pounds to the charity this year.
I did 20 lengths of the pool today. I have not swum that far since I was at school.
I have been swimming all day and I feel exhausted.
In recent years, companies have been putting increasing resources into internet marketing.
The South African coal company has put the Calverton Mine up for sale.
An important file has disappeared from my office.
Plants and vegetables have been disappearing from my garden since we had new neighbors.
It is remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza has claimed more than 50,000 lives in this country, and in 1957 alone around 6,000 people died. But over the last 20 years we at the center have been making considerable progress on understanding the illness. We have produced over a hundred books and articles reporting the results of our research and in 2012 they awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine to one of my colleagues. In our more recent work we have been looking into the effects of influenza on heart diseases and we have also been exploring a possible link between climate change and the recent increase in the number of cases of influenza. It is a tragedy that the government has made this decision now.
The previous government invested huge amounts of money into the Center and I think its terrible that the present government has announced this cut when the number of cases of influenza has been increasing. The center has been running successfully for many years. But this decision is just typical of this government. It has been neglecting health research ever since it was elected, and has been cutting back on spending on science generally. Although the government says that the cut is necessary because of the recent world economic problems, I have found evidence that they have been planning this for some time. I spoke to the Minister about this yesterday and have also written (wrote) to the Prime Minister demanding that the decision should be reversed.
