i`ve been expecting you or i`ve expected you

[siesta_0425]

I have a question for present perfect.

If i expect someone for a long time, can i talk to "i`ve expected you for a long time"?
Is it a correct?

or "i`ve been expecting you for a long time"?


i don`t know it.

Thank you.

[Bide]

1)"I`ve expected you for a long time."
2) "I`ve been expecting you for a long time"?

Both are grammatically correct, but they fit better in different situations.

If you were waiting for me to come to your house, and I am very late, use 2). 2), through the use of 'been', is passive. You passively waited for me to come. I say, "Sorry, the traffic was terrible."

If I am a killer, and you are hiding from me in an anonymous village in rural Japan, then one day I knock at your door, use 1). 1) is more active, you were actively thinking, and expecting, I would find you one day. I say, "You knew I would find you in the end." Bang bang!!

[5jj]

2) "I`ve been expecting you for a long time"?


If you were waiting for me to come to your house, and I am very late, use 2). 2), through the use of 'been', is passive. You passively waited for me to come. I say, "Sorry, the traffic was terrible."

Sorry, but the use of 'been' in #2 is not passive.

Auxiliary BE + third form (past participle) = Passive
Examples: I am expected, I was expected, I have been expected.

Auxiliary BE + ing-form Progressive/Continuous Active.
examples: I am expecting, I was expecting, I have been expecting.

[cubezero3]

Sorry, but the use of 'been' in #2 is not passive.

Auxiliary BE + third form (past participle) = Passive
Examples: I am expected, I was expected, I have been expected.

Auxiliary BE + ing-form Progressive/Continuous Active.
examples: I am expecting, I was expecting, I have been expecting.

Hello, 5jj.

I would like to know if you agree with the rest of what Bide said.

It seems to me to be a refreshing way of understanding the difference between the two tenses.

Manky thanks

Richard

[5jj]

I would like to know if you agree with the rest of what Bide said.
Not really - we could use the progressive form quite naturally in both situations.

With this verb, the progressive form 'I have been expecting' is more likely in most situations than the non-progressive form. This is because the 'expecting' continues up to the very moment of speaking (when it ends because of the arrival of the person spoken to) or, if you are taliking to a person on the phone, the expectation has not ended yet.

In either case, we have a classic sitituation for the progressive form of the present perfect