Practice – Grammar in use

Task 1: Match the present perfect-continuous to the correct description: a number to a letter

1. She is tired. She has been running.

2. You have been talking on the phone for twenty minutes.

a- There is a connection between past and present: emphasis is put on the duration of the action which started in the past and continues up to now (a situation is used with action verbs);

b- Past and present are also connected: the result of a long action (finished or which may be still going on) is visible in the present.

Task 2: Identify the present tenses and situations to them.

1. She has dyed her hair red.

2. The sun is shining now.

3. He always goes to bed at 11 p.m.

4. She has been doing her homework for two hours.

5. The sun rises in the west.

6. Bertha is not here. She has gone to the library.

7. Alan is flying to Barcelona tonight.

8. He is always laughing at me! I don’t like this situation.

9. I have already cleaned the flat but as I have been working late all week, I haven’t had time to cook for you.

10. I have bought a bag.

Task 3: Ask and answer questions using the present perfect-continuous tense with ‘for or since’.

E.g.: Susan / teach / Spanish / 2005?

Has Susan been teaching Spanish since 2005? Yes, she has. She has been teaching it since 2005.

1. Peter / work / for this company / two years?

2. Julie / play / the guitar / morning?

3. Sam / watch /TV / half an hour?

4. Molly / hide / in a farmhouse / yesterday?

5. Karen / read / the book / all morning?

6. Catherine / wait / for a bus / twenty minutes?

Task 4: Put the verb in brackets into the correct form (+,?, -) of perfect continuous.

e.g. Lisa _______ the house all morning? (clean)

Has Lisa been cleaning the house all morning?

1. Jim ________ his car all day? (repair)

2. I _________ this book for two weeks. (not / read)

3. Mr. Bell is tired. He ________ with his report since morning. (work)

4. Molly ________ with me since last week? (stay)

5. Sam ________ to ride a horse for two hours. (learn)