Unit 4

DESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR:
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Present perfect continuous, form
The present perfect continuous is made up of two elements: (a) the present perfect of the verb 'to be' (have/has been), and (b) the present participle of the main verb (base+ing).

Example: to live, present perfect continuous

Present perfect continuous, function
The present perfect continuous refers to an unspecified time between 'before now' and 'now'. The speaker is thinking about something that started but perhaps did not finish in that period of time. He/she is interested in the process as well as the result, and this process may still be going on, or may have just finished.

Examples

1. Actions that started in the past and continue in the present:
   
   
   1. She has been waiting for you all day (=and she's still waiting now).
      
   2. I've been working on this report since eight o'clock this morning (=and I still haven't finished it).
      
   3. They have been travelling since last October (=and they're not home yet).
      
      
2. Actions that have just finished, but we are interested in the results:
   
   
   1. She has been cooking since last night (=and the food on the table looks delicious).
      
   2. It's been raining (= and the streets are still wet).
      
   3. Someone's been eating my chips (= half of them have gone).

Note:

Verbs without continuous forms
With verbs not normally used in the continuous form, use the present perfect simple. See list of these verbs under 'Present Continuous':

• I've wanted to visit China for years.
  
• She's known Robert since she was a child.
  
• I've hated that music since I first heard it.
  
• I've heard a lot about you recently.
  
• We've understood everything we've heard this morning.

STUDY GUIDE

Present perfect continuous: EG 9, 10; PEG 190-193, PEGE 42, 43, 125.

1. Put the verbs in brackets into the present perfect continuous or/and (where both are suitable) present perfect simple.

1. The teacher (give) the same lecture for the last 10 years.
   
2. She always (live) in London.
   
3. The project to send astronauts to Mars (go) on since 1991.
   
4. Sales (increase) for some time.
   
5. I never (understand) why we have to pay so much tax.
   
6. I (not read) any of Shakespeare's plays.
   
7. I only (work) here for a few days.
   
8. Now, that the noise (stop), I can start working again.
   
9. I (repair) my car. That's why my hands are so dirty.
   
10. You look exhausted. What you (do)?

2. Chose the most suitable sentence ending.

1. I've swum ...
   
2. I've been swimming ...
   
   1. and I feel exhausted.
      
   2. Thirty length of the pool.
      
3. They have asked me ...
   
4. They have been asking me ...
   
   1. to visit them for ages, but I've never had the time.
      
   2. to join the company on a number of occasions.
      
5. I have visited Vienna ...
   
6. I have been visiting Vienna ...
   
   1. three times before.
      
   2. since 1990 and I always felt very safe here.
      
7. We've stayed ...
   
8. We've been staying ...
   
   1. at this hotel a couple of times before.
      
   2. at a small hotel near the sea.

READING COMPREHENSION

The priciest Funeral Pyre

   Sixty tons of firewood and 140 gal of kerosene and gasoline were need to make the great bonfire hot enough. Nothing less would do to reduce to ashes the 2,400 elephant tusks, twelve tons of non-flammable ivory in all, that Kenyan wild-life officials had confiscated from poachers during the past four years.

   In a dramatic ceremony last week President Daniel arap Moi ignited the 20-ft tower of ivory, which had been erected in a clearing overlooking the Athi Plains in Nairobi's game park. The pyre was a memorial for the hundreds of thousands of elephants slaughtered by poachers over the past ten years, and the symbol of Kenya's avowed resolve to end poaching and the global trade that threatens the African elephant with extinction. In just the past decade, Kenya's herd has plummeted from 65,000 to about 17,000, the number throughout Africa from 1.3 million to approximately 625,000.

   Ivory, whose market value has almost tripled since 1981, is used for everything from piano keys to figurines, hair ornaments to personal seals. Had Kenya sold the store of tusks, many of which had been wrenched from the skulls of baby elephants, it could have earned $ 3 million. But, said Moi, "obviously Kenya cannot appeal to the world to stop buying ivory if at the same moment we are selling the very same commodity."

   The cremation was not staged merely to warn off poachers and traders. Richard Leakey, the renowned palaeontologist who took charge of Kenya's wildlife department in May, also wants consumers to start thinking about the market they are keeping alive. Said Leakey: "We are trying to send a message to collectors around the world that carved ivory is an ugly thing. We have to convince the buyer not to purchase ivory trinkets or ornaments. The only place we want to see ivory is on a standing elephant."

1. The 2400 elephant tusks weighed 24 tons.
   
2. Ivory is difficult to burn.
   
3. Over the past 10 years, dozens of elephants were killed.
   
4. Poachers symbolise Kenya.
   
5. The African elephant could soon disappear.
   
6. If you bought an ivory figurine for $ 1,000 in 1981, it is now worth about $ 3,000.
   
7. Kenya has sold ivory worth $ 3 million.
   
8. Kenya would like to sell as much ivory as possible.
   
9. The only purpose of the fire is to send a message to poachers and traders.
   
10. People generally think that carved ivory is beautiful.

- Key to Unit 4 -

- Contest 4 -

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