Grammar and usage

Present perfect or present continuous?

Present perfect or

present perfect continuous?

1. We use the present perfect tense

to talk about an action completed

in the recent past, and the present perfect continuous tense for an action that started in the past and

is still happening.  

• Li Jia __________ (read) a book about Stonehenge. (She finished reading the book.)

• Li Jia ______________ (read) a book about Stonehenge. (She is still reading the book.)

has read

has been reading

2. We can use the present perfect tense for repeated actions, and the present perfect continuous tense for non-stop actions.

• I ___________ (visit) Egypt twice this month. (repeated actions)

• I ________________ (tour) Egypt for two months. (non-stop action)

have visited

have been touring

3. We usually use the present perfect tense to ask questions beginning with how many or how much, and the present perfect continuous tense to ask questions beginning with how long .

• How many times _____ you _____ (swim) in the lake?

• How long _____ you ______________ (swim) in the lake?

have swum

have been swimming

4. We can use either a state verb or an action verb with the present perfect tense but we usually can only use an action verb with the present perfect continuous tense.

I have had this camera for five years.

state verb

I have taken photos of UFOs with this camera.

I have been taking photos of UFOs with this camera.

action verb

action verb

5. We use the present perfect tense, not the present perfect continuous tense, with the words like never, yet, already and ever.

( ) I have never visited America.( ) I have already been to America.( ) I have never been visiting America

TTF

Exercise A: Read the conversation and circle the right words to complete it.

Answers: (1) heard (2) been doing (3) been researching (4) been doing (5) started (6) done (7) read (8) found (9) started (10) been doing (11) been making

1. Where do you think the boy has been waiting?

2. What have the aliens been travelling in? What does it look like?

3. Who else have the aliens talked to?4. What other planets have the aliens

visited?

Exercise B: Try to answer the following questions according to the comic strip

Sample answers of Part B1. He has been waiting at an under-ground

station.2. They have been traveling in an UFO. It

looks like a saucer.3. They probably have talked to animals or

plants on the earth as well as creatures on other plants.

4. They have visited Mars, Venus, Jupiter and some other planets.

1. Go through what we learnt today and get familiar with them.2. Prepare Task.

Homework