IV. USING THE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE FOR TIME

2.0 The Perfect Continuous Tenses Connects Two Points of Time, Actions or Situations

1. Like with the Perfect Tense, in the Perfect Continuous Tense the action happens at a starting point and an ending point or it can happen between a starting point and a later time. However, the action is usually expected to continue past the time of speaking or later time that is indicated.

Examples

I have been working on this project for three months (it is not finished yet).

I have been going to San Francisco regularly in the past year. That is where our head office is. I go there almost every month.

2. The Perfect Continuous Tense is used to identify how long an action has taken place. It is also used to identify the starting point of an action that ends or is reported later. However, the action is expected to continue.

• We use 'since' to talk about when the action started.
• We use 'for' to talk about how long the action has been happening.
• In some cases, the action may have occurred forever into the past—or at least until the time that we were born. In this case, we use the time words 'always' or 'never'.

3. Like the Perfect Tense, the Perfect Continuous Tense can include everything that happened in between the two points of time or action.

• This could be a single continuous action, a series of repeated actions, or a changing situation over time.

Examples

I have been living in Cairo since 2015/for 10 years. (I expect to continue living there)

I have been changing jobs almost every year because I want to keep advancing in my career.

I have been losing weight because I am exercising.