The perfect progressive tense describes actions that repeated over a period of time in the past, are continuing in the present, and/or will continue in the future.
The present perfect progressive tense tells you about a continuous action that was initiated in the past and finished at some point in the past; however, the action has some relation to the present time. Use have/has + been + ing.
- It has been raining, and the street is still wet.
- I have been running, and I am still tired.
- She has been practicing the piano, and she is much better now.
The past perfect progressive tense illustrates a continuous action in the past that was completed before another past action. Use had + been + ing.
- It had been raining, and the street was still wet.
- I had been running, and I was still tired.
- She had been practicing the piano, and she had gotten much better.
The future perfect progressive tense indicates a continuous action that will be completed in the future. Use will + have + been + ing.
- By tonight, it will have been raining several hours, and the street will be very wet.
- By next summer, I will have been running for almost a year, and I will be fit and healthy.
- By the time of the concert, she will have been practicing the piano for several months, and she will be much better.
[Quiz 12.1]
Choose the incorrect sentence from the following.
1) I have been sleeping all day today.
2) They will have been walking for almost an hour by the time they arrive at their destination.
3) She have been eating a lot recently.
Irregular Verbs
Regular verbs form their past and past participle by adding ed (d).
Base Verb | Past | Past Participle |
learn | learned | learned |
study | studied | studied |
cook | cooked | cooked |
solve | solved | solved |
ask | asked | asked |
watch | watched | watched |
listen | listened | listened |
Irregular verbs do not have definite rules, but there are a few patterns.
|
|
Base Verb | Past | Past Participle |
grow | grew | grown |
know | knew | known |
begin | began | begun |
draw | drew | drawn |
drive | drove | driven |
fly | flew | flown |
give | gave | given |
speak | spoke | spoken |
swim | swam | swum |
go | went | gone |
take | took | taken |
find | found | found |
spend | spent | spent |
teach | taught | taught |
pay | paid | paid |
feel | felt | felt |
buy | bought | bought |
meet | met | met |
have | had | had |
feed | fed | fed |
keep | kept | kept |
cut | cut | cut |
hit | hit | hit |
set | set | set |
shut | shut | shut |
fit | fit | fit |
[Quiz 13.1]
Find the past and past participle forms of the following verbs using your dictionary:
bring
drink
think
tell
eat
make
beat