FORM

You already know that perfect tenses are formed with: (have + past participle) and that continuous tenses are formed with: (be + V-ing). Now we are going to study how to form perfect continuous tenses. You have to conjugate be in the perfect tense required by the situation followed by the verb you want to conjugate ending in -ing.

  Affirmative form (...have / has been + V-ing...): Beatrice has been working all afternoon.

  Negative form (...have / has + not + been + V-ing...): Jonathan has not been swimming for a long time.
                                               
 
  Interrogative form (...have / has + subj. + been + V-ing...): How long have you been watching TV?

USES

The present perfect continuous tense is used to speak about:

  actions which began in the past and have been in progress up to the present or have just finished:

Paul is inside his tent and has been sleeping for a long time. 

  events that occur repeatedly up to the present:

Beckham has been hitting the ball very well since he recovered from his last injury.

  The present perfect continuous cannot be used to speak about actions in the past unlike the present perfect.