Select the option that best completes the sentence: I hope the bus comes soon because ______
- (a)we waited for half an hour
- (b)we have been waiting for half an hour
- (c)we waiting for half an hour
- (d)we could have been waiting for half an hour
Correct — B, 'we have been waiting for half an hour'. The waiting started in the past and continues up to the moment of speaking (the bus still has not come), which is exactly what the present perfect continuous ('have been waiting') expresses; 'for half an hour' marks the duration up to now.
- (a)we waited for half an hour — The simple past 'waited' presents the waiting as a finished event, but here it is still ongoing, so the present perfect continuous is needed.
- (c)we waiting for half an hour — 'we waiting' is not a finite verb — it lacks the auxiliary 'are/have been', so the clause is ungrammatical.
- (d)we could have been waiting for half an hour — 'could have been waiting' expresses a hypothetical possibility, not the factual, continuing wait the sentence describes.
Present perfect continuous: 'have/has been + -ing' describes an action that began in the past and is still in progress, typically with a duration phrase ('for half an hour').
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct completion: She is exhausted because she ______ since morning.
- (a)worked
- (b)has been working
- (c)working
- (d)had worked
Answer(b) has been working — the work started earlier and continues to now, so present perfect continuous fits.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Choose the correct completion: They ______ for the results for two weeks now.
- (a)wait
- (b)waited
- (c)have been waiting
- (d)waiting
Answer(c) have been waiting — an ongoing action over a stretch of time up to the present takes the present perfect continuous.