Present Perfect Progressive Tense

What Is the Present Perfect Progressive Tense? (with Examples)

The present perfect progressive tense has two uses. It is used for:

(1) a continuous activity that began in the past and continues into the present, or
(2) a continuous activity that began in past but has now finished (usually very recently).

It might seem a little unusual that an activity which started in the past and finished in the past can be categorized as present tense, but this is because it normally has a relevance to the present.

Examples of the Present Perfect Progressive Tense

Here are some examples of the present perfect progressive tense: Of course, you can also have the negative version, which is formed "has not been" or "have not been" + "[present particple]": And the question version:

Forming the Present Perfect Progressive Tense

Here is an infographic explaining the present perfect progressive tense:

The Other Present Tenses

The present perfect progressive tense is one of four present tenses. They are:
The 4 Present Tenses Example
simple present tense I go
present progressive tense I am going
present perfect tense I have gone
present perfect progressive tense I have been going
The present perfect progressive tense is formed:

"has/have been" + [present participle]

For example:
In the examples above, the words "working" and "chewing" (i.e., the [verb] + "ing" part of the construction) are known as present participles. A present participle is formed like this:

Add "ing" to most verbs:
For verbs that end "e", remove the "e" and add "ing":
For verbs that end "ie", change the "ie" to "y" and add "ing":
For verbs whose last syllable is written [consonant-vowel-consonant] and is stressed, double the final consonant and add "ing":

A Quick Test




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See Also

Tenses Simple past tense Past progressive tense Past perfect tense Past perfect progressive tense Simple present tense Present progressive tense Present perfect tense Present perfect progressive tense
Simple future tense Future progressive tense Future perfect tense Future perfect progressive tense