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hi everybody welcome back to top words
my name is alicia and today we're going
to talk about 10 past perfect continuous
patterns
so before we start today's episode of
top words this is just a
review of a grammar point so using i've
been i'm going to use i've been to
introduce each of these so for a little
bit of grammar review this means i have
been plus a progressive form of the verb
meaning i started at some point in the
past and it continues to the current
point in time when we are speaking so
all of the sentences all of the patterns
i'm going to introduce in this lesson
follow that pattern and i'll try to use
some example sentences with different
subjects as well so
let's look
i've been thinking all right the first
sentence is i've been thinking i've been
thinking so something that you
started thinking about in the past and
you have continued you maybe started
thinking i don't know two weeks ago when
you thought about a week ago and you
thought about a few days ago so and now
you're thinking about it you can say
i've been thinking you can say i've been
thinking
and continue to a new idea you can say
i've been thinking about and then you
continue with the gerund form of the
verb so like i've been thinking about
changing jobs i've been thinking about
moving to a new apartment we use the
gerund form they're moving so another
example sentence i've been thinking
about starting a new hobby
i've been worrying
the next pattern is i've been worrying
i've been worrying so something that you
thought about in the past that caused
you to worry and you continued to worry
about until the present time i've been
worrying about blah blah blah i've been
worrying about my brother my mother says
she's been worrying about me for a long
time or my boss has been worrying about
this project so always this has been or
have been plus worrying about
something i've been worrying about
something okay in another sentence
i've been worrying about you all night
i've been wanting
and the next pattern is i've been
wanting i've been wanting so wanting
means something you started like you
wanted it for the first time in the past
like i think i used this in a live a
live video i said i've been wanting to
see that movie like i've been wanting to
see the new blade runner i think i said
that means i started wanting i for the
first time i thought i wanted to do that
or i wanted some object and i didn't get
it at that time maybe the next day and
the day after that and the day after
that i still wanted that thing so i can
say i've been wanting that i've been
wanting that so for example in my
sentence i've been wanting to see that
movie for a long time or he's been
wanting to take a day off for ages or
they've been wanting to travel the world
for 50 years
something like that in another example
sentence yeah i've been wanting to see
that movie
i've been studying
the next pattern is i've been studying
i've been studying this is a pattern
that's probably very useful for many
people who are watching i've been
studying means you started studying in
the past and you continued to study for
a number of years or a number of months
or maybe just a few days i don't know
i've been studying so this is a pattern
that you can use actually all of these
are patterns that you can use with for
and since before the period of time or
the length of time so for example i've
been studying english for three years or
she's been studying accounting her whole
life or
they've been studying gardening for the
last six months for example so talking
about a thing you have studied for a
period of time you can refer to that
continuously with the progressive form
or the continuous form in another
sentence i've been studying english for
a year
i've been hearing about
ah the next one the next pattern is i've
been hearing about i've been hearing
about this is useful for gossip or for
news
maybe you can use it to talk about like
a new restaurant or a new bar or just
something interesting some interesting
little piece of information you
continue to hear about so you heard it
once or maybe you heard about it again a
few days later something that here and
there
you've you heard about a few times you
can say i've been hearing about blah
blah blah like i've been hearing about
this new restaurant that opened recently
or i've been hearing about the upcoming
policy changes at work or he said he's
been hearing about some bad weather
that's going to come this summer i don't
know but something that you've been
hearing something that you heard news
about in the past multiple times you can
say i've been hearing about blah blah
blah in a sentence
i've been hearing about our new manager
little gossip okay
i've been listening to
next one is also maybe useful for your
studies but um i think useful for your
hobbies it's i've been listening to i've
been listening to um so something
that began and again began in the past
continues to the present
that happened regularly so this can mean
like music that you like or maybe a news
program or a podcast that you enjoy
or maybe i don't know even this video
series for example so i've been
listening to that artist for many years
or he's been listening to his boss's
advice for the whole day or
um
she's been
listening to her mother
shout for three hours i don't know but
these are things we've we we are we have
listened to uh continuously for a period
of time i've been listening to something
else continuously in another sentence
i've been listening to a lot of jazz
lately
i've been talking a lot with
the next pattern is i've been talking a
lot with
i've been talking a lot with or you can
say i've been talking a lot too is also
all right but i've been talking a lot
with means
over an extended period of time or maybe
recently there's a person or a group of
people or an organization perhaps you
have had many conversations with you've
spoken to that person many times so for
example um he's been talking a lot with
a counselor recently or they've been
talking a lot with upper management
about the future of the company for
example or i've been talking a lot with
my neighbors lately it's been great
so talking a lot with is another pattern
that's useful in this grammar point i
think
um in a sentence
i've been talking a lot with my parents
this month
i've been living
next one is a commonly confused one i
think the next one is i've been living
i've been living here or i've been
living in city or country name for or
since blah blah blah
so i've been living in the usa for
87 years or she's been living in that
city for three months or they've been
living here for almost a year i think so
been living a lot of people say like can
i say
like i have lived here for one year or
i've been living here for one year they
mean the same thing really like
especially with the verb to live like i
have lived here for five years and i've
been living here for five years they're
to me they're very similar in meaning i
think i've been living here i've i feel
both they're they're both perfectly
acceptable really i would i would use
either like i would say i've lived here
for five years or i've been living here
for five years um
it
i suppose the continuous nature is a
little bit stronger with the continuous
tense but they really communicate the
same idea so you can use either to talk
about the place where you live really so
one more example i've been living in
bangkok for three years now
i've been working
next pattern is i've been working i've
been working this is one you can use to
talk about your job or perhaps a project
that you're doing
so you can use i've been working at a
certain company you can say i've been
working
as plus a job title with your extra
information so i've been working as a
teacher for
18 years or i've been working as a
doctor for three months for example you
can say i've been working on plus a
project name like i've been working on a
new promotion or i've been working on a
new book for example so depending on the
preposition that you use after this
expression you can change sort of
the information you want to present so
to recap i've been working in abc
company for five years i've been working
as
a
doctor for five years or i've been
working on a new project for five years
so these are a few patterns that you can
use with the verb working here to talk
about a continuous thing uh in your past
and your present as well so in another
sentence
i've been working in this department for
six months
i've been planning
the last one is i've been planning i've
been planning so this refers to perhaps
a future plan something that you started
thinking about in the past but it has
not happened yet maybe something that
you are planning even now but you
started planning it in the past so this
is something
maybe it has not happened yet it's going
to happen in the future so i've been
planning a birthday party for my friend
or he's been planning to find a new job
or they've been planning a month-long
vacation for example so something it
hasn't happened yet but it's going to
happen in the future we can use i've
been planning they've been planning
she's been planning in another sentence
i've been planning a barbecue all summer
so
those are 10 past perfect continuous
patterns i hope that those are helpful
those are a few examples of some ways
that we use at least in american english
the past perfect continuous or the past
perfect progressive tense so i hope that
these are helpful for you as you kind of
build some sentences
and kind of get a feel for the way that
some of these verbs are commonly used of
course if there's another pattern that
you like to use with the continuous or
the progressive tense please let us know
in the comments section uh if you like
the video please make sure to give it a
thumbs up it helps us a lot check us out
at
englishclass101.com for some extra
resources and of course subscribe to the
channel if you haven't already thank you
very much for watching this episode of
top words and i'll see you again soon
bye-bye
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