PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSES
It is actually a combination of two tenses-perfect+ continuous. When we have been or had been doing some work/task we want to convey the meaning that a part/portion of the task has/had been completed but the task is/was not finished yet. It gives us a mixed sense. Let us study the following two sentences.
1.It has been raining since dawn.
2. We have been reading for five hours.
In both the above cases we want to convey that-a) a part/portion of the task is completed. In the first sentence we want to inform someone that the rain had started at dawn; a considerable time has elapsed but it is still raining.
In the second sentence it is clear that we had started reading 5 hours ago. We have read a lot but we are still reading.
In both the cases the message is very clear.We use has been or have been because in perfect tenses we learnt that we have to use 'has' or 'have' followed by the past participle form of the verb. 'BEEN' is the past participle form of 'BE' verb. We have to use the 'ing' form of the main verb because the task/work is still continuing.
In the past perfect continuous tense we follow the same logic. We have to use the past form of 'have' verb.(HAD).
3. The soldiers had been fighting for three days.
4. It had been raining for a fortnight.
We are not discussing the use of future perfect continuous tense because in modern English this tense is seldom used.
The form is : We shall have been walking for ten days.
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H A P P Y l E A R L N I N G!
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