Topic: The present perfect continuous tense 1

level: Intermediate (B1/B2)

Change each sentence into a PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS sentence.
Example: I started playing basketball two years ago. → I have been playing basketball for two years.

1. Jim started playing football three years ago. → Jim football for three years.

2. My brother started running two years ago. → My brother for two years.

3. We started learning English three years ago. → We English for three years.

4. My neighbor started living here one year ago. → My neighbor here for one year.

5. I started watching this movie one hour ago. → I this movie for one hour.

6. They started working four hours ago. → They for four hours.

7. My sister started sleeping one hour ago. → My sister for one hour.

8. The teacher started talking 30 minutes ago. → The teacher for 30 minutes.

9. My sister and her friend started listening to music 20 minutes ago. → My sister and her friend to music for 20 minutes.

10. The children began playing two hours ago. → The children for two hours.

11. I began living there three years ago. → I there for three years.

12. My cousins started traveling two months ago. → My cousins for two months.

13. I started studying German in 2019. → I German since 2019.

14. My grandfather started sleeping two hours ago. → My grandfather for two hours.

15. I started working yesterday. → I since yesterday.

16. They began teaching Japanese five years ago. → They Japanese for five years.

17. We started listening to the podcast 45 minutes ago. → We to the podast for 45 minutes.

18. I began painting houses three years ago. → I houses for three years.

19. Jim started working as a plumber a couple of years ago. → Jim as a plumber for a couple of years.

20. My cousin began shopping an hour ago. → My cousin for an hour.

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GRAMMAR REVIEW! Present perfect continuous

The present perfect continuous tense is used to describe actions that started in the past and are still continuing now, or have just recently stopped but have a connection to the present.

Structure:

I/You/We/They → have been + verb(-ing)
He/She/It → has been + verb(-ing)

When do we use it?

1. To show duration (how long something has been happening)

👉 Emphasis is on how long an action has continued up to now.

Examples:
I have been studying English for two hours.
She has been working at that company since 2018.

2. To show recent activity (just finished, but with present evidence or effect)

👉 Emphasis is on the activity, not the result.

Examples:
He has been crying. (His eyes are red.)
They have been running. (They look tired.)

TOP TIP! Look out for these clues in a sentence:
for (a period of time) → for three hours
since (a starting point in time) → since Monday
also commonly used with: lately, recently, all day, all morning, how long, still

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