Б. С. Хаймович, Б. И. Роговская теоретическая грамматика английского языка

E. g. When you have forgotten it you won't be so foolish as to talk about it. (Maxwell).

§ 275. What makes the present non-continuous perfect fundamentally different from the past non-continuous non-perfect can be briefly summarized as follows:

1) The present non-continuous perfect expresses an action which though belonging to the past is connected with the present situation, whereas the past non-continuous non-perfect denotes an act wholly unconnected with the present. In brief, the past non-continuous non-perfect belongs to the sphere of the past, the present non-continuous perfect — to that of the present.
2) The present non-continuous perfect does not, as a rule, occur in narration. For the most part it represents individual acts, but not a successive chain of events.
3) The present non-continuous perfect denoting isolated acts attracts the attention of the listener (or reader) towards the action it expresses, whereas the past indefinite non-perfect may leave it in the shadow.
Cf. I f о r g о t Adrian: he'll have to sit on his sticks and
think about bones and Diana. (Galsworthy). That American chap has not forgotten anything I see. (Galsworthy).
In the first situation the act of forgetting is not made prominent, what happens to Adrian being uppermost in the speaker's mind. In the second sentence it is the action of forgetting that counts.

The Past Non-Continuous Perfect

§ 276. As a unit of the language system it presents an act in the past (past tense) unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and preceding some situation (perfect order).

When it occurs in speech, the situation is usually specified either within the same sentence or outside it
E. g. He called all the powers of heaven to witness that never h a d a woman repaid with such gross deception an honest man's belief in her. (Maugham). He looked at his watch. He had been asked to dinner at half past nine... (Ib.).
Cf. The ministry has fallen. (Ib.).
(The situation in the present is not specified, as it is the situation of speech.)

§ 277. When used with terminative verbs it may acquire a distinct connotation of resultativity, as in

He reminded the bride that her father was a hero of the great war whose glorious wounds h a d b e e n rewarded by a concession to sell tobacco. (Maugham).
The resultative tinge is sometimes uppermost in the speaker's (or writer's) mind, so that the meaning of priority is actually suppressed.
E. g. He waited sullenly till the engineer had spread out the drawings on the floor. (Black). No one had bothered us when we were in plain sight along the railway. (Hemingway).

§ 278. The past non-continuous perfect may be inclusive in meaning if supported by the context.

Dinny said you h a d n' t had any new breeches since the war. (Galsworthy).
Unless supported by the context it is mostly exclusive.
He was not looking at her, so she was able to study him as she had not yet had the chance of doing. (Galsworthy). I knew he h a d l i v e d in China. (Randall).

§ 279. What makes it different from the present non-continuous perfect, apart from its tense meaning is the fact that the past "non-continuous perfect is freely used in narra­tion. Thus in the sentence The young man had opened the door, threw the pyjamas at the senator's head and quickly closed it again (Maugham) the past non-continuous perfect occurs in a sentence reproducing a succession of past events, where the past non-continuous non-perfect is the usual gram­meme. The past non-continuous perfect helps to stress the completeness of the first action. Here are some more passages illustrative of its use in narration.

Our house had collapsed backward..., by a chance the kitchen and scullery had escaped and stood buried now under soil and ruins closed in by tons of soil. (Wells).
Stephen had r e с о g n i z e d him at once and barely glanced at the crisp engraved visiting-card which the other presented to him as Jenny, with a murmured word, excused herself and left the room. (Cronin).
Occasionally it may acquire a distinct modal tinge of irreality when used with to hope, to mean, etc., showing that the hope or intention has not been carried out¹. A person says / had meant to apologize (Buck) when reprimanded for not having done so.

The Future Non-Continuous Perfect

§ 280. As a part of the verb system it presents a future action (future tense), unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and prior to some situation in the future (perfect order).

E. g. By their arrival everything will have been made nice and tidy. (Grey).
It sometimes acquires the modal meaning of supposition, as in
Most people will have h e a r d of the beauty and cleanliness of this line. (Daily Worker).

The Present Continuous Perfect

§ 281. As a language unit it presents an action associated with the present (present tense), viewed in its development (continuous aspect) and preceding some situation in the pre­sent (perfect order).

§ 282. It is but natural that the present continuous per­fect may have an inclusive meaning in speech, in which case it is, as a rule, associated with an adverbial phrase or clause showing that the action still goes on.

Dinny, what have you been doing since we met last? (Galsworthy).
We h a v e been g о i n g to pictures about twice a week ever since. (Maugham).
The absence of the inclusive meaning when there is no adverbial to bring it out testifies to the truth of I. P. Ivanova's opinion that the inclusive meaning is not incident to the present continuous perfect as such.
Don't get drunk and start telling Neddy what you've been telling me. (Amis).
When there is no adverbial to show that the action still goes on, the present continuous perfect often carries the connotation of 'recently', 'just now'.
I'v e been telling her stories and telling her stories, and she just can't go to sleep. (Benson).
They have been dining here I think, sir. (Dickens).
You have been dancing. You are heated. (Bronte).

§ 283. It is self-evident that if a verb happens to be a non-terminative one the present non-continuous perfect and the present continuous perfect are synonymous, the dif­ference between them lying in the manner of presenting an action.

Cf. "What sort of company have you kept since I last saw you?" she began. (Collins).
We h a v e been keeping company ever since. (Buck).
This is, naturally, not the case when the verb is a termin-ative one.
Cf. What have you been doing these three months? (Dickens).
What have you done, Robina? (Jerome).
When used with verbs of instantaneous action, it may denote an action of reiterative nature as in The new maid has been breaking my best china. (Braddon).

§ 284. The present continuous perfect may acquire an emotional tinge, an emphatic force which occasionally grows so strong that the continuous nature of the action is hardly felt at all as in What have you been d о i n g to your hair? You are a picture (surprise, disapproval).

I have b e e n h e a r i n g all of your activities from little nurse Triar. No wonder everyone loves you. (Randall), (ap­probation).
The present continuous perfect is common in colloquial speech.
"You know I've been down to the Home several times" he said presently... "I h a v e been talking to them now on the "phone". (Galsworthy).
I've been feeling so jumpy lately, I thought may be it might be a good thing if I kind of got off by myself... (Lewis).

The Past Continuous Perfect

§ 285. The past continuous perfect has much in common with the present continuous perfect, the main difference be­tween them being that of tense.

It presents a past action as preceding a certain situation and viewed in its development.
E. g. I was aware that my railway worker and his wife had been living in Paris at the time of the war. (Bennett).
I took the sculls, I h a d not been pulling for a minute or so when George noticed something black floating on the water. (Jerome).

§ 286. Like the present continuous perfect it may be inclusive if supported by the context or else exclusive as in

By that time I h a d been wo r k i n g for the firm for about a year and they seemed to be quite satisfied, (The Worker).
Here I saw this man whom I had lost sight of some time, for I h a d been travelling in the provinces. (Dickens).
It differs, however, from the present continuous perfect in being used chiefly in narration and in not possessing that peculiar emotional tinge which is sometimes found in the present continuous perfect.

§ 287. The future perfect continuous is actually non­existent.