PRESENT PERFECT VS PRESENT

PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Teacher: Dra. Daniela Dueñas Aparicio

Student: Martha Edith Torres Gómez
 Present Perfect
• We use the present perfect simple with action verbs to
emphasize the completion of an event in the recent past.

Example:
• He’s written 16 books.

Structure:
Subject + has/have + past participle + complement
 Present Perfect Continuous
• We use the present perfect continuous to talk about ongoing
events or activities which started at a time in the past and are
still continuing up until now.
Example:
• I’ve been writing the Politics essay.

Structure:
Subject+ has/have + been + present participle
 Compare
Look at these two sentences:

• I’ve read that book you lent me.

• I’ve been reading that book you lent me.

• The present perfect continuous talks about how long
something has been happening. The present perfect simple
talks about how much/how many have been completed.

Examples:
• She’s been writing emails for 3 hours.

• She’s written 10 messages.

The present perfect continuous is often used to show that
something is temporary.

• I usually work in London, but I’ve been working in Birmingham

for the last 3 weeks.
Sometimes there's really no difference in meaning between the
two tenses. This is especially the case with verbs such as 'live',
'work' and 'study’:

• They've lived in London since 2004.

• They've been living in London since 2004.

• I've studied French for ten years.

• I've been studying French for ten years.

• He's worked at the company since 2009.

• He's been working at our company since 2009.
• We do not use the present perfect continuous with stative verbs.
For example: belong, know, understand

Stative verbs:
Have/has + past participle

Have you heard the news?

Not: Have you been hearing the news?

Review
 References
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/es/gramatica/gramatica-
britanica/present-perfect-simple-or-present-perfect-continuous
https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/present-perfect-
simple-or-present-perfect-continuous.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBB8DL_RPMw
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/intermediate-
grammar/present-perfect-simple-and-continuous