Present perfect continuous - revision exercise.

Present perfect simple and present perfect continuous can be used to talk about actions that 1)  (finished / began) in the past and still continue in the present. Examples:

Dave has driven that old car all his life. ...
The students have been studying for their English exams for three weeks. ...

One difference in meaning between the two forms is that present perfect simple expresses a permanent situation and present perfect continuous talks about 2) . (an unreal / a temporary) situation. More examples:

The castle has stood on that hill for centuries. ...
Leaves have been falling from the trees recently. ...

Another difference between the two aspects of this tense is that present perfect 3) (simple / continuous) suggests that the action is still happening now and is probably going to continue into the future but present perfect 4) (simple / continuous) tells us that the action has now finished. Read these examples:

I've been studying law at the university this year. I'm finding it very hard. ...
I've studied five subjects since the beginning of this year. Now I think I'm going to study something else. ...

Both simple and continuous forms of the present perfect can use the prepositions "since" or "for" when they refer to time expressions. The preposition 5) (for / since) is used to talk about periods of time and 6) (for / since) refers to a certain time or moment in the past. Examples:

I've been a member of the sports club for ten years. ...
They've been working on that building since last summer. ...
Mary has been sitting there waiting for you for ages. ...
The locals have spoken English here since the days of the British Empire. ...

We cannot always use present perfect continuous with all verbs. This is because some verbs are not usually used in the 7) (simple / continuous) form. Some of these verbs are: be, like, love, see, have (possessive), etc. Example:

"I've been liking living here" is not possible and we should say: "I've 8) here." (liking living / liked living)

Lastly, we use present perfect continuous when we make a reference to the 9) (coincidence / consequence) of doing a 10) . (momentary / prolonged) action. Examples:

- What have you been doing? You're all wet!
- Yes, I've been walking in the rain. ...

- Look at you! Your clothes are all torn. What have you been doing?
- I've been trying to get the cat out of a tree. ...