When to use Present Perfect Progressive

• Temporary habits or situations
  I’ve been dating this girl from school lately.
  My brother has been reading a lot of comics recently.
• Ongoing things
  Actions that started in the past and are still happening today.
  They’ve been living since I was born.
  She’s been waiting for him to pop the question forever.
• Actions in the very recent past with results
  It’s been raining, so I got soaking wet.
  Bob has been working out, so he’s very hungry.

Structure of Present Perfect Progressive Tense

Subject + conjugated form of ‘to have’ + been + Progressive Participle of Main Verb + Object

Present Perfect Progressive combines the perfect and the progressive aspect. To express the perfect aspect, we need the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and to express progression, we need the auxiliary verb ‘to be’. The auxiliary verb of perfect tenses is ‘to have’ which needs to be used in present tense. Make sure to conjugate ‘to have’ to agree with the subject. ‘To have’ is always followed by the Past Participle of the main verb. Therefore, we need to use the past participle of ‘to be’ which is ‘been’. ‘Been’ is followed by the progressive participle (-ing form) of the actual action verb as in case of all progressive tenses.

Some examples for the structure:
My dog has been acting weird for the last couple of days.
I’ve been feeling sick from rice lately.
My mom has been working all afternoon.

Take a look at the following table to review how Present Perfect Progressive is formed:

Making the Present Perfect Progressive Tense negative

To create the negative form of a Present Perfect verb, you need to combine ‘not’ and the auxiliary verb ‘to have’. The short form are ‘hasn’t’ and ‘haven’t’. Remember to use the short forms in informal conversations and the long forms in a written, formal context.

Subject + has / have + not + been + Progresisve Participle

Examples:
He hasn’t been doing his homework.
I haven’t been working on this project with the rest of the team.
They haven’t been talking to each other lately.

Yes/no questions in Present Perfect Progressive

Questions in Present Perfect are formed by switching the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ and the subject. For example:
Have you been working out?
Haven’t you been working on the same project?
Have you been dating anyone lately?

Open-ended questions in Present Perfect Progressive

In case of open-ended questions, always start with the questions word. After the questions word, follow the usual word order for questions: auxiliary verb – subject – main verb – object -etc. The auxiliary verb here is have which follows the questions word.

How long have you been seeing her?
Who have you been dating recently?
What have you been doing all day?

Typical adverbs of Present Perfect Progressive Tense

The typical adverbs of the Present Perfect Progressive Tense are mostly the same with the typical adverbs of the Present Perfect Tense. However, the focus is always on the continuity of the action at a given moment. These adverbs are:

Already, yet, since …., for … years/days/hours, this morning/afternoon/evening, today, recently, lately, just, ever, never, so far, in the last few years/minutes/weeks

Some examples:
She’s been working to the same company for years.
I’ve been feeling so much better lately.
It has been raining all day.
The goalkeeper has been performing better than expected so far.
Haven’t you been actively looking for a new job since that incident?

!! Remember that some verbs cannot be used in progressive tenses. To review these verbs, click here.