Learning is a lifelong effort. "Consider a language ... language serves to describe a combination of colored squares on a surface. The squares form a complex like a chessboard. There are red, green, white and black squares. The words of the language are 'red', 'green', 'white', 'black', and a sentence is a series of these words. They describe an arrangement of squares in an order." -- Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosopher (20th century)

Present perfect continuous vs. simple present perfect

What are some of the differences between the present perfect continuous, also sometimes called the present perfect progressive, and the simple present perfect.

Normally we use the present perfect progressive for shorter, temporary situations. So you might say, "I have been studying for ten minutes."


And we use the simple present perfect for longer or permanent situations. For example, "I have lived in Taipei since I was born."

However, sometimes either present perfect continuous or simple present perfect can be used. It depends on how the speaker sees the situation so you might say, "The sun has been shining all week." Or, "The sun has shined all week".

Now a few rules you should remember. Some verbs are almost never used in progressive forms even when the meaning is one where you would use a progressive, for example “be, have and know. Therefore you should not say, "She's been being here for ten minutes. Or I’ve being had a headache all day. or I've only being known him since Friday."

Also remember if you want to put the emphasis on results, you use the simple present perfect, as in “I've learned ten new words since I arrived this morning."

Last we use the simple present perfect to say how many times something has happened. "He has interrupted my studies six times this morning."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thanx TP

I was confuse about it