Present Perfect Progressive

I have been sitting here since seven o'clock.
(a) I have been sitting here since seven o'clock.
(b) I have been sitting here for two hours.
(c) You have been studying for five straight hours. Why don't you take a break?
(d) It has been raining all day. It is still raining right now.
This tense is used to indicate the duration of an activity that began in the past and continues to the present. When the tense has this meaning, it is used with time words, such as for, since, all morning, all day, all week.


(e) I have know Alex since he was a child.
(f) INCORRECT: I have been knowing Alex since he was a child.
Reminder: verbs with stative meanings are not used in the progressive. (See chart 2-3.) The present perfect, NOT the present perfect progressive, is used with stative verbs to describe the duration of a state (rather than an activity) that began in the past and continues to the present.


(g) I have been thinking about changing my major.
(h) All of the students have been studying hard. Final exams start next week.
(i) My back hurts, so I have been sleeping on the floor lately. The bed is too soft.
When the tenses is used without any specific mention of time, it express a general activity in progress recently, lately.

(j) I have lived here since 1995. I have been living here since 1995.
(k) He has worked at the same store for ten years. He has been working at the same store for ten years.
With certain verbs (most notably live, work, teach), these is little or no difference in meaning between the two tense when since or for is used.