Katherine
Present Perfect of Present Perfect Continuous? 1) Have you always lived in Chicago? ( Why P.P. here? We talking about process, right?) 2) "I haven't watched TV for ages." and "He has been watching TV all evening." ( I see process in both sentences, but why in first sentence we use P.P. and in secon sentence we use P.P.C.?)
Feb 11, 2017 6:16 PM
Answers · 3
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1) "Have lived" and "have been living" are both possible. Unfortunately, the verb "to live" is not a good example when demonstrating perfect and perfect continuous sentences, so you just need to find a verb which gives a clearer example. I would naturally ask the question as "Have you always lived...?" 2) I think you've misunderstood "process", and this might be from hearing a poor explanation of present perfect when you first tried to use this piece of grammar. "I haven't watched TV for ages," means, "The last time I watched TV was a very long time ago." We use present perfect simple because it's in your experience, from the past to now. "He has been watching TV all evening," focuses on the length of the activity, up to now: all evening. Notice this sentence is also positive, whereas the first sentence is negative. "I haven't been watching TV for ages" sounds very absurd.
February 12, 2017
1
1. You can choose either with the verb "live" with very little difference in meaning. "have lived" sounds better here because the question is about a fact, a permanent feature of that person (their place of residence), and not their activity. 2. The first sentence expresses the result, and the second one expresses the activity.
February 11, 2017
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