Explain the use of tenses in the following sentences

1. I’ve been living next door to Alison for five years but I’ve never spoken to her. 2. Marie has been going out with Steve for a year now, and they are planning to get married. 3. This fund has been helping people for generations. 4. The inspector has been keeping a watch on the house for the last few days. 5. “I have been keeping this bracelet specially for you,” said my grandmother. 6. In my eyes you can see all the love that I’ve been feeling. 7. I’ve been waiting for this holiday for so long! 8. Where are my letters? Have you been hiding things from me again? 9. What a smell? What have you been smoking? 10. For over three centuries farmers in the Philippines have been growing the finest tobacco leaf in the world.

@ Exercise 2.

Answer the following questions. Use since and for in your answers.

1. How long have you been living in this city? 2. How long have you been studying in this class? 3. How long have you been studying English? 4. Have you been waiting for me for a long time? 5. How long have you been smoking? 6. Have you been running this firm for a long time? 7. How long have you been wearing glasses? 8. How long have we already been working? 9. Have you been doing your present job long? 10. How long have you been peeling all those potatoes?

@ Exercise 3.

Explain the use of The Past Perfect Continuous in the following sentences.

1. We were tired as we had been walking for more than an hour. It was time to rest a little. 2. The boy had been reading the task in physics for a long time but still he didn’t understand it. 3. Mrs. Jackson was one of the best teachers at the school. She had been teaching for twenty years. 4. Dora was writing a letter to her boyfriend. She had been writing it since she got home from class. 5. My eyes were getting tired. I had been reading for two hours. I decided to make a break. 6. Mr. Robbins liked his job. He had been working at the company for fifteen years. 7. She put aside the sweater which she had been knitting. 8. The secretary closed the file which she had just been looking through. 9. They had been driving all night when finally they saw the lights of a big city. 10. When I entered the flat, I saw that everything was in a mess. Somebody had been searching the rooms. 11. The boys had black eyes and torn trousers. They had been fighting. 12. At least he got the opportunity he had been waiting for so long.

@ Exercise 4.

Read and translate the following sentences. Explain the use of The Future Perfect Continuous.

1.– Do you think you’ll be tired in the evening? – Yes, I’ll have already been working for eight hours. 2. By this time tomorrow, I’ll have been travelling for twelve hours. 3. By this time tomorrow you get there the people will have been waiting for an hour already. 4. By May, he’ll have been riding that bike for five years. 5. By Christmas, I’ll have been working for this company for twenty years.

@ Exercise 5.

Ask questions to the following sentences beginning “How long …?”. Use the words in brackets in Present Perfect or Present Perfect Continuous.

1. It’s our wedding anniversary today. (be married) 2. Did you know that Renata wore contacts lenses? (wear, them) 3. Where were you? It’s ten past seven. (be, here) 4. Maxim and I are getting married next month. (know, him). 5. They live in London now. (live, there) 6. The job is very easy for me now. (work, here) 7. The children are in the garden. (be outside) 8. The boys are playing football. (they, do) 9. Richard is on a business trip. (be, away)

@ Exercise 6.