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What is the proper usage of "has been" in the sentences below?

He has been working on it.

  1. He started working some time back (it may be near or long past) and still working.
  2. He started working some time back and is now not working.
  3. He started working some time back and one cannot say whether he is working still.
  4. All of them are wrong: please give its meaning.

In a well-thought-of question and its answers, have been eating is shown as starting some time ago and ending a little before the present.

However, if I say "He has been working on it," does that mean that there is no possibility that having started to work on whatever it is some time ago, he is still working on it? Does that construction always mean that work has stopped?

If there's a time mentioned, "He's been working on it for three months," does that make a difference?

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vinay
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  • I've suggested that you can find the answer at an existing question. If that doesn't help, please edit your question with more details of what's unclear. – Andrew Leach Dec 06 '14 at 13:02
  • but i had learnt " have been " means it is still continuous but in the link they have given a pic saying that , have been means started some point back and continued for some time but ended recently . – vinay Dec 06 '14 at 13:18
  • "has been" is the same as "have been" just changed for person: I/you/we/they have been, he/she/it has been. – miltonaut Dec 06 '14 at 13:21
  • yeah i know that – vinay Dec 06 '14 at 13:22
  • but my doubt is whether it is still continuous are not – vinay Dec 06 '14 at 13:22
  • Ah, I see. "Been" is the past participle of "to be". "Have been" is the present perfect form. So in the illustration, it matches with "I have eaten". Examples: I have been a good boy/I have been to China/I have been a janitor. How long ago it ended doesn't matter. – miltonaut Dec 06 '14 at 13:25
  • if a person is saying "I have been working here" then what he is saying , he is working here from some time back and still working or just working some time period in the past. – vinay Dec 06 '14 at 13:30
  • How is the question now? I think I've represented your query in the light of existing answers. If not, please feel free to edit a bit more to make it ask what you want. – Andrew Leach Dec 06 '14 at 13:34
  • fully satisfied , i am ever grateful to you for the link and explantion – vinay Dec 06 '14 at 13:39
  • You are drawing incorrect conclusions from the answer to the other question. For "have been eating", it means that they started some time ago, and either (a) stopped very recently, (b) are stopping right now, (c) are still eating, and will continue doing so for some time. What is visually depicted in the other question are the times that you *know* they were eating from the phrase "they have been eating". – Peter Shor Dec 06 '14 at 14:08
  • And even "they were eating" doesn't strictly mean that they've stopped eating. For example, you could say "they were eating at Anne's Pub; let's see if they're still there." It's impossible to convey all the possible meanings of English tenses in a simple diagram, so you shouldn't leap to conclusions based on that diagram; it just gives a general idea of what the tenses mean. – Peter Shor Dec 06 '14 at 14:23

1 Answers1

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He has been working on it.

This is the present perfect continuous. He started on the project sometime in the past, and he's not finished. We're not sure if he is working on it right this moment, or when he started it. (Your case #3)

He's been working on it for three months.

This is still the present perfect continuous. He started on the project sometime in the past, and he's not finished. We're not sure if he is working on it right this moment, but now we know when he started it--3 months ago.

In both of these sentences, the only way to know if he is working right this moment is if we have additional information. From one sentence, we just don't know. We need more text, a photo, a video, being in the room with project, something...

"He's been working on it for three months. He doesn't eat, he doesn't sleep. He should be, at his daughter's birthday party, but no, he's out in the workshop!" (working right this moment)

vs.

"He's been working on it for three months. I finally got him to take a break. Could you come back and check tomorrow after he's had some sleep? (not working right this moment)

miltonaut
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