Present Perfect Continuous: Questions Negative Statemets & Tag Questions

Questions and negative statements




When a verb has more than one auxiliary, it is the first auxiliary which must change its form to agree with the subject of the verb. It is also the first auxiliary which is used to form questions and negative statements.

Questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject of the verb. 

For example:

Affirmative Statement	Question
I have been working.	Have I been working?
You have been working.	Have you been working?
He has been working.	Has he been working?
She has been working.	Has she been working?
It has been working.	Has it been working?
We have been working.	Have we been working?
They have been working.	Have they been working?

Negative statements are formed by placing the word not after the first auxiliary. For example:

Affirmative Statement	Negative Statement
I have been working.	I have not been working.
You have been working.	You have not been working.
He has been working.	He has not been working.
She has been working.	She has not been working.
It has been working.	It has not been working.
We have been working.	We have not been working.
They have been working.	They have not been working.

Negative questions are formed by placing the first auxiliary before the subject, and the word not after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted form of not follows immediately after the first auxiliary. For example:

Without Contractions	With Contractions
Have I not been working?	Haven't I been working?
Have you not been working?	Haven't you been working?
Has he not been working?	Hasn't he been working?
Has she not been working?	Hasn't she been working?
Has it not been working?	Hasn't it been working?
Have we not been working?	Haven't we been working?
Have they not been working?	Haven't they been working?

Tag questions are formed using the first auxiliary. In the following examples, the negative tag questions are underlined. For example:

Affirmative Statement	Affirmative Statement with Tag Question
I have been working.	I have been working, haven't I?
You have been working.	You have been working, haven't you?
He has been working.	He has been working, hasn't he?
She has been working.	She has been working, hasn't she?
It has been working.	It has been working, hasn't it?
We have been working.	We have been working, haven't we?
They have been working.	They have been working, haven't they?

Exercise:

Following the model of the example, rewrite the following two affirmative statements as questions, negative statements, negative questions without contractions, negative questions with contractions, and affirmative statements followed by negative tag questions. 
For example:
      They have been enjoying themselves.
      Have they been enjoying themselves?
      They have not been enjoying themselves.
      Have they not been enjoying themselves?
      Haven't they been enjoying themselves?
      They have been enjoying themselves, haven't they?

Answers: 
1. Has it been snowing? It has not been snowing. Has it not been snowing? Hasn't it been snowing? It has been snowing, hasn't it? 
2. Have you been visiting your friends? You have not been visiting your friends. Have you not been visiting your friends? Haven't you been visiting your friends? You have been visiting your friends, haven't you?