Present perfect continuous connects the past to the present.
Use present perfect continuous to talk about an activity which was in progress very recently in the past

• A: Why are your hands green?
  B: I‘ve been painting my room.

Use the present perfect continuous to describe actions or situations starting in the past and continuing up to and including now.

• He has been waiting for his friends for 20 minutes.

Use present perfect continuous to talk about a regular habit or activity that someone started recently and which they continue to do. You can add a time signal to stress that the action started recently.

• They‘ve been eating at restaurants a lot recently.
• He‘s been working overtime a lot lately.
• I‘ve been walking to work recently.

• Present perfect and present perfect continuous can describe actions or situations starting the past and continuing up to and including now. A time signal is necessary to show how long the activity has been in progress.
  • Jim has worked here for ten years.
  • Jim has been working here for ten years.
• You can use present perfect continuous to stress an activity that started in the past and that continues with interruption to the present.
  • We have been working on this report for a long time.
• You can express the same meaning with present perfect.
  • We have worked on this report for a long time.
• The present perfect continuous stresses the fact that the activity has continued before now in the past, but we are not sure when.
  • They have repaired their car.
• Present perfect continuous without a time signal is often used to talk about an activity that finished very recently before now.
  • They have been painting their house.