Understanding Present Perfect Progressive tense: Formation, Usage, and Signal Words

Discover the Present Perfect Progressive tense with us! The progressive form of the perfect tense is used to express long-lasting actions or states. Learn how to use the Present Perfect Progressive tense in your English with helpful tips and sample sentences.

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The formation of the Present Perfect Progressive tense

To form the Present Perfect Progressive tense, you need the auxiliary verb to have in the Present Perfect (have/has been). You also need to form the verb of the sentence in the -ing form. Take a look at the following formula for the formation of the Present Perfect Progressive tense:

Subject + have/has been + verb in -ing form = Present Perfect Progressive tense.

As you can see from the formula, forming the Present Perfect Progressive tense is not as difficult as you might have thought. To deepen your knowledge of the Present Perfect Progressive tense, you will now find a few example sentences in the Present Perfect Progressive tense.

Example sentences in Present Perfect Progressive tense

Present Perfect

Example

Have/has been studying

I have been studying for three hours.

Have/has been working

She has been working on the project all day.

Have/has been running

He has been running for an hour.

Have/has been reading

They have been reading the same book for weeks.

Have/has been sleeping

She has been sleeping for ten hours.

Have/has been eating

He has been eating his breakfast for half an hour.

Have/has been playing

They have been playing soccer for two hours.

Have/has been writing

She has been writing her essay for hours.

Have/has been watching

He has been watching TV since this morning.

Have/has been talking

They have been talking on the phone for an hour.

The use of the Present Perfect Progressive tense

The Present Perfect Progressive tense is basically used to describe actions or states that began in the past, continue into the present, and eventually may continue into the future. The Present Perfect Progressive tense is most often used to emphasize that an action or state has lasted a while.

  • Action began in the past and continues into the present.
  • action began in the past and continues into the future
  • To emphasize that a state or action has been occurring frequently lately
  • Action started in the past and continues in the present

Check out even more example sentences with corresponding signal words in Present Perfect Progressive tense in our list below to deepen your understanding of usage and formation.

Signal words in the Present Perfect Progressive tense with example sentences

Signal word

Example

Lately

I have been studying a lot lately.

Recently

She has been traveling a lot recently.

So far

We have been having a great time so far.

For

They have been living in London for two years.

Since

He has been playing guitar since he was 10 years old.

All day

I have been working all day on this project.

All week

They have been preparing for the exam all week.

All month

She has been saving money all month for her vacation.

All year

We have been planning this trip all year long.

How long

How long have you been waiting for the bus?

Up to now

He has been successful in all of his projects up to now.

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