Present perfect cont vs Past perfect cont

Present perfect cont vs Past perfect cont

Present Perfect Continuous

The Present Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an action in progress that was taking place until the present moment. The action may not be finish at that time. This action may still be continuing or may have just finished.

The structure is:

have / has + been + -ing verb

I’m really tired. I have been carrying those bags for half an hour.

In such sentences, Present Perfect Continuous Tense emphasizes the process or the duration of the event or state. The tense connect the past with the present.

She has been cleaning the room since morning. They have been studying for the math exam the whole day. He has been running that company for 10 years.

Grammar explanation

Focusing on result or activity.

>The present perfect simple usually focuses on the result of the activity in some way, and

> The present perfect continuous usually focus on the activity itself in some way. 

Ongoing states and actions

> We often use for, since and how long with the present perfect simple to talk about ongoing states.

> We often use for, since and how long with the present perfect continuous to talk about ongoing single or repeated actions.

Past perfect continuous

The past perfect continuous: is used to express a past action that started in the past and continued to happen after another action or time in the past. Past Perfect Continuous Tense tell us “how long the action had continued” or ” the duration of the action” is emphasized more in this tense. It is used to show that an action started in the past and continued up to another point in the past.

For example, They had been talking for over an hour before Tony arrived.

The past perfect continuous is formed using had + been + present participle

We had been looking for the wallet for 2 hours when Susan found it. She had been writting reports since morning when the boss came the office. They had been celebrating their wedding anniversary for hours when David arrived.

The Past Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an ongoing action that was taking place until another specified moment in the past.

The structure is:

had + been + -ing verb

I had been carrying those bags for half an hour when I met Peter and he helped me.

In such sentences, Past Perfect Continuous tells us ‘how long the action had continued’ or emphasizes ‘the duration of the action’. Namely, Past Perfect Continuous tells us that an event happened and continued for a certain period of time in the past, not in the present.

THEIR DIFFERENCES

Unlike the present perfect continuous, which indicates an action that began in the past and continued up to the present.

The past perfect continuous is a verb tense that indicates something that began in the past, continued in the past, and also ended at a defined point in the past.

Form:

past perfect: I had spoken

Past perfect continuous: I had been speaking

Use:

>>Before I had even spoken a word, some people began to shout and throw things at me.

>>After I had been speaking for a few minutes, some people began to shout and throw things at me.

The continuous is used in the same situation in which you would use continuously in any tense: with action verbs, to describe an on-going or continuing action.

Past perfect of either type is used to differentiate the earlier of two past events, especially when the focus is on the past but you go out of chronological order to bring in an earlier event.