Question

Identify the tense used in the following sentence.
They have been reading the newspaper.
A. Simple present
B. Present perfect
C. Present continuous
D. Present perfect continuous

Answer 1

Hint: In English grammar, tenses play a vital role. They denote the time of an action, whether it was done in the past, in the present or will take place in the future. There are three types of tenses, past, present and future tense, which are further divided into four categories.

Complete answer:
To understand tenses, it is important to understand the rule of each type of tense. Every tense, whether past, present or future will have a set of rules. For example:
She plays ukulele (present)
she played ukulele (past)
she will play ukulele (future)
Here, you will notice that the verb used with every sentence is different and it denotes the time of an action. However, talking about present tense, it is a tense that expresses the action which is currently going on in the present and it has four parts, Simple present, present perfect, present continuous and present perfect continuous.
Let us examine the given options to find the correct option
Simple present: It refers to a daily habit, or a universal truth. The action here is not a habit. So, it is an incorrect option
Present perfect tense: It indicates an action that began in the past and has just completed but the action here has not completed it is still continuing. So, it is an incorrect option
Present continuous tense: It indicates an action continuing in the present, but does not indicate that it began in the past. So, it is an incorrect option.
Present perfect continuous: It indicates an action that happened in the past and is still continuing in the present. Hence option D is correct.

Hence, option D is correct.

Note: There is a difference between present perfect continuous and present continuous. Present perfect tense indicates the action that has happened in the past and is still continuing. And, it will always have a (has/have +been + verb) to the sentence. However, present continuous denotes the present action that is continuing in the present. for example: I am holding a pen, here it is not mentioned by when I was holding a pen.