Present Perfect Continuous (I have been doing)

Pada kesempatan ini saya akan me-review (mengulang kembali) tentang Present Perfect Continuous (I have been doing) yang diambil dari sumber buku yang sangat populer di kalangan pencinta Bahasa Inggris seperti: siswa, mahasiswa, guru, dosen atau mungkin anda juga, yakni English Grammar In Use karangan Raymond Murphy.
Jika anda ingin memahami unit ini ada baiknya anda membaca terlebih dahulu unit 13, 14, dan 15 present perfect (I have done).

Present perfect continuous digunakan ketika kita mengungkapkan tentang satu tindakan atau aksi yang belum lama terjadi, yang dimulai pada masa lampau kemudian selesai belum lama ini atau baru saja selesai. Untuk lebih jelas silahkan perhatikan contoh situasi berikut:

1. Study this example situation:

Is it raining?
No, It isn't but the ground is wet.

It has been raining.

This is the present perfect continuous tense:

I/we/they/you  have (= I've etc.) been raining.
he/she/it          has (= he's etc) been raining.

Situasi di atas menunjukan bahwa tanah dalam keadaan basah. Belum lama itu turun hujan. Tapi hujannya baru saja berhenti. Perhatikan penjelasan dari Raymond Murphy berikut ini:
We use the present perfect continuous when we talk about an action (quit a long action which began in the past and has recently stopped or just stopped. Here are some example:

• You're out of breath. Have you been running?
• That man over there is bright red. I think he's been sunbathing.
• Why are your clothes so dirty? What have you been doing?

Jelas sekali bukan?

2. Akan tetapi penggunaan present perfect contionous juga dapat digunakan ketika sebuah kejadian pada masa lampau dan terus berlangsung hingga sekarang.
Lihat contoh situasi berikut:

It is raining now. It began to rain two hours ago and it is still raining.

It has been raining for two hours.

We often use the present perfect continuous in this way, especially with how long, for and since.

Lihat contoh yang lainnya:

• How long have you been learning English?
• They have been waiting here for over an hour.
• I've been watching television since 2 o'clock.
• George hasn't been feeling very well recently.
• Have you been working hard today?

Anda juga dapat menggunakan present perfect continuous menggunakan how long, for dan since untuk aktivitas yang berulang-ulang:

• She has been playing tennis since she was eight.
• How long have you been smoking?

Saya kira penjelasan dari Raymond Murphy sendiri sudah sangat jelas. Silahkan anda pelajari sendiri dan anda akan menyadari belajar Tenses tidaklah sesulit yang kita bayangkan.
Untuk tambahan tentang present perfect continuous agar lebih mudah anda memahaminya.

How do we make the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?

The structure of the present perfect continuous tense is:

subject	+	auxiliary verb	+	auxiliary verb	+	main verb
		have has		been		base + ing

	subject	auxiliary verb		auxiliary verb	main verb
+	I	have		been	waiting	for one hour.
+	You	have		been	talking	too much.
-	It	has	not	been	raining.
-	We	have	not	been	playing	football.
?	Have	you		been	seeing	her?
?	Have	they		been	doing	their homework?

Contractions

When we use the present perfect continuous tense in speaking, we often contract the subject and the first auxiliary. We also sometimes do this in informal writing.

I have been	I've been
You have been	You've been
He has been She has been It has been John has been The car has been	He's been She's been It's been John's been The car's been
We have been	We've been
They have been	They've been

Here are some examples:

• I've been reading.
• The car's been giving trouble.
• We've been playing tennis for two hours.

How do we use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense?

This tense is called the present perfect continuous tense. There is usually a connection with the present or now. There are basically two uses for the present perfect continuous tense:

1. An action that has just stopped or recently stopped

We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and stopped recently. There is usually a result now.

I'm tired because I've been running.
past	present	future
!!!
Recent action.	Result now.

• I'm tired ^[now] because I've been running.
• Why is the grass wet ^[now]? Has it been raining?
• You don't understand ^[now] because you haven't been listening.

2. An action continuing up to now

We use the present perfect continuous tense to talk about an action that started in the past and is continuing now. This is often used with for or since.

I have been reading for 2 hours.
past	present	future
Action started in past.	Action is continuing now.

• I have been reading for 2 hours. [I am still reading now.]
• We've been studying since 9 o'clock. [We're still studying now.]
• How long have you been learning English? [You are still learning now.]
• We have not been smoking. [And we are not smoking now.]

For and Since with Present Perfect Continuous Tense

We often use for and since with the present perfect tense.

• We use for to talk about a period of time - 5 minutes, 2 weeks, 6 years.
• We use since to talk about a point in past time - 9 o'clock, 1st January, Monday.

for	since
a period of time	a point in past time
	x
20 minutes	6.15pm
three days	Monday
6 months	January
4 years	1994
2 centuries	1800
a long time	I left school
ever	the beginning of time
etc	etc

Here are some examples:

• I have been studying for 3 hours.
• I have been watching TV since 7pm.
• Tara hasn't been feeling well for 2 weeks.
• Tara hasn't been visiting us since March.
• He has been playing football for a long time.
• He has been living in Bangkok since he left school.

Good luck

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