Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of British Island Airways, Captain Masseyandhis crew welcome you on board the Start Herald Flight to Southampton. Our flight time will be approximately forty-five minutes, and we shall be climbing to an altitude of eight thousand feet and cruising at a speed of two hundred and fifty miles per hour. | 9 VERB TENSES AND ASPECTS PAGE 92 b We can use the present perfect continuous for repeated actions up to now. David has been writing letters to the hospital. I ve been going to evening classes in Arabic. The speaker sees the actions as a continuing series. Compare the present perfect for a complete series of actions. David has written to the hospital three times now. c Compare the present perfect continuous and the present perfect for a single action. Period of time I ve been washing the car. I m rather wet. Complete action I ve washed the car. It looks a lot cleaner now. The continuous here focuses on the action going on. The present perfect focuses on the result of the action. The choice depends on how the speaker sees the action. When we say how long we normally use the continuous form. When we say how many we do not use the continuous. Tina has been writing her report since two o clock. She s written twelve pages. Now look at these examples. I ve been waiting herefor ages. I ve waited herefor ages. We ve been living here since April We ve lived here since April. The continuous is more usual here but there is little difference in meaning. d We use the present perfect not the continuous for a state up to the present. She has been in a wheelchairfor three years. I ve always hated hospitals. 68 Past perfect and past perfect continuous Miranda lay on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She was depressed. Her boyfriend Max had gone on holiday with his brother the day before. He hadn t invited Miranda to go with him. He hadn t even said goodbye properly. And everything had been going so well. What had she done wrong 1 Form Past perfect had past participle someone had invited Negative someone had not invited Questions had someone invited Past perfect continuous had been active participle someone had been going someone had not been going had someone been going 2 Use of the past perfect We use the past perfect for an action before a past time. She had met Max six months .
