Present perfect continuous and simple tenses

Present perfect continuous and simple tenses are often used together. We use the continuous form to talk about activities, and the simple form to talk about individual actions:

I’ve been getting ready for my trip. I’ve packed my case, I’ve collected my tickets I’ve changed some money.

I’ve been writing an essay. I’ve written it in rough but I haven’t typed it out yet.

Complete with a verb from the list in the present perfect continuous.

bark cry do eat play shop not sleep watch

A Your sister’s lost a lot of weight!

B Yes. She’s been eating a lot less recently.

A Your eyes are red.___________ you __________?

B Yes. I’ve seen a sad film.

A It’s very late. Why aren’t you in bed?

B I can’t sleep. That dog _____________ for the last to hours.

A You look tired.

B I know. I ____________ well recently.

A Wow! You bought a lot of things!

B Yes, we __________ all day.

A You look hot! What _________ you__________?

B I ____________ in the garden with the children.

Circle the correct form. If both forms are possible, circle them both.

1 How long have you known / been knowing your boyfriend?

2 She’s gone / been going to the same hairdresser for years.

3 They’ve worked / been working in that bank since 2003.

4 He’s slept / been sleeping since three o’clock.

5 How long have you lived / been living here?

Exercise 1.Listen to the textsand complete the sentences. [T.6].

1 Kenny and I have been_________.

2 He’s been sending _____ ________ to his ex-girlfriend again.

3 You’re going to feel _______ tonight.

4 You look _________.

5 We’ve been walking all _______.

Exercise 2.Retell the listened text.

Exercise 3.Do you know the meaning of these words? Choose three to complete the quotes below.

calculating concerned insecure flexible self-motivated academic redundant

a A career used to be for life. Once you had left school, you found a job and worked you way up the career ladder. Today the job market is far more __________ and no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

b. You have to be ready to accept change, in short be _________, if you are going to stay in the job market. There is a positive side to this –instead of feeling that you have to stay in the job you’ve been trained to do, you have more freedom to move around and try different things.

c Women are more willing to take career risks, partly because they are less__________ with status, but also because they like to experiment. It’s just a question of saying: I think I can do this.

Do you view these trends in the job market positively or negatively? In what other ways has the job market changed?

Exercise 4.Pre-reading task. Match the highlighted words with their definitions below.

1 of little importance _________________

2 crazy _________________

3 a person who looks after animals (e.g. in a zoo) _________________

4 animals like large monkeys _________________

5 not looked after well _________________

Exercise 5.Read this text.