The Present Perfect Continuous Inclusive and the Present Continuous

Students should take care not to mix up the Present Perfect Continuous and the Present Continuous: the Present Continuous is used to denote an action going on at the present moment, no previous duration is expressed. The Present Perfect Continuous Inclusive is used when the previous duration of the action is expressed.

I am reading Dombey and Son.

I have been reading Dombey and Son for three days.

There is no difference in the translation:

Я читаю роман «Домби и сын».

Я читаю роман «Домби и сын» три дня.

The Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous Exclusive.

The Present Perfect denotes a completed action while with the Present Perfect Continuous Exclusive there is an implication of incompleteness.

He has made some experiments.

Он сделал несколько опытов.

He has been making experiments.

Он делал опыты.

Why are your lips black? I have been eating blackberries. I have eaten a

whole plateful.

Я ел чернику. Я съел целую тарелку.

She is walking up and down the room thinking of the letter she has been

writing and wondering how she should finish it.

She is going to post the letter she has just written.

THE PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

The formation of the Past Perfect Continuous.

1. The Past Perfect Continuous is formed by means of the Past Perfect of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle I of the notional verb.

2. In the interrogative form the first auxiliary verb is placed before the subject.

In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the first auxiliary verb.

Affirmative	Interrogative	Negative
I had been writing	Had I been writing?	I had not been writing
He had been writing	Had he been writing?	He had not been writing
She had been writing	Had she been writing?	She had not been writing
We had been writing	Had we been writing?	We had not been writing
You had been writing	Had you been writing?	You had not been writing
They had been writing	Had they been writing?	They had not been writing