The Continuous Aspect

The Present Perfect (Continuous Aspect)

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I have been writing he has been writing we have been writing you have been writing they have been writing	I have not been writing he has not been writing we have not been writing you have not been writing they have not been writing	Have I been writing? Has he been writing? Have we been writing? Have you been writing? Have they been writing?

The Use of the Present Perfect of the Continuous Aspect

1. The present perfect of the continuous aspect expresses an action begun in the past and continued into the present; it connects the past with the present through the uninterrupted progress of an action begun before the present moment and still continuing at that moment.

Ex.: “I have been walking these seven days.” (Dickens)

The starting point of the action is indicated by since; the whole period of duration is usually indicated by the preposition for.

Ex.: “He’ s been travelling since six this morning.” (Braine)

When the starting point of an action is fixed by a subordinate clause introduced by since, the verb of the subordinate clause is usually in the past tense.

Ex.: I have been writing since I came here.

But the present perfect is used with both verbs if they denote actions begun in the past and continued into the present.

Ex.: “Little woman,” said my guardian, “I was thinking- that is, I have been thinking since I have been sitting here,- that you ought to know, of your own history, all I know.”(Dickens)

The present perfect continuous may be used without any indication of time.

Ex.: “I’ ve been thinking about that passage you read to me last night.” (Gordon)

Note.

Я пишу грамматическое упражнение –I am writing a grammar exercise.

Я пишу это упражнение уже два часа. – I have been writing this exercise for two hours.

2. The present perfect may also indicate an action begun in the past, continued up to the present but no longer going on at the present moment.

Ex.: Your eyes are red; you have evidently been crying.

3. The present perfect of the continuous aspect is often used to indicate the incompletion of an action, corresponding to the Russian imperfective aspect. The present perfect of the common aspect would indicate a complete action, corresponding to the Russian perfective aspect.

Ex.: I have been reading Shelley in your absence and I have read two of his poems.

4. The present perfect of the continuous aspect is sometimes used to express repeated actions(the present perfect of the common aspect might suggest a single action)

Ex.: I have been coming in here week in and week out for years.

Ex.: I have met her at the library.

5. The present perfect of the continuous aspect is also used with emotional colouring.

Ex.: She picked off a tiny crump of pink sugar. “Oh, Master Philip,” she said. “You’ ve been buying sweet cakes. ” (Greene)

The Past Perfect (Continuous Aspect)

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I had been writing he had been writing we had been writing you had been writing they had been writing	I had not been writing he had not been writing we had not been writing you had not been writing they had not been writing	Had I been writing? Had he been writing? Had we been writing? Had you been writing? Had they been writing?

The Use of the Past Perfect of the Continuous Aspect

1. The past perfect of the continuous aspect expresses an action begun before a given moment in the past and continued into that past moment (inclusive past perfect continuous)

Ex.: It was simply pouring with rain outside, and had been all day… (Jerome)

The whole period of the duration of the action may be indicated by the preposition for (for two hours, for about a year) or by such adverbial expressions as all time, all day.

Ex.: There was sufficient light and he had been wasting electricity for nearly an hour. (Hemingway)

The starting point of the action is marked by since

Ex.: Presley reached the spring…, the point towards which he had been travelling since early in the afternoon. (Norris)

a) The past moment from which the action expressed by the past perfect (continuous aspect) is viewed may be indicated.

Ex.: By that time she had been studying English for three years.

b) By a subordinate clause of time.

Ex.: Steerforth… had been strolling about the beach before I was up…(Dickens)

2. The past perfect may also be used to express an action begun before a given past moment, coming very close up to that past moment but no longer going on at that past moment. This is shown by the context.

Ex.: Here Mr. Pickwick, who had been writing in silence for some time, gave a violent start. (Dickens)

The Future Perfect (Continuous Aspect)

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16