present perfect tense & present perfect continuous tense

[*zaizai~love*]

i am vietnamese student . i want to ask :when do we use present perfect continuous tense and present perfect tense ? Which are couts different ? I'm often mistaken for present perfect tense & present perfect continuous tense when i make the sentences .How can i repair ?
thanks

[engee30]

You usually use the Present Perfect Simple tense for situations that describe the result of an action. If you want to focus on the action itself, you use the Present Perfect Continuous tense. cf.
I have been making cookies since before 5 o'clock.
I have made over 50 cookies so far. (the result of making cookies is the amount of over 50 of them)
She has been writing an essay for two hours.
She has written 2 pages up till now.

[*zaizai~love*]

sorry , can you detail that tense , please?

[engee30]

Let's imagine such a situation. You are doing something now. You started doing it, say, an hour ago. If you want to focus on the duration of this action you use the Present Perfect Continuous tense, e.g.

1. I am listening to my favourite album. (the statement describes what you are doing at this moment)
2. I started listening to the album an hour ago. (the statement shows when the action began)
3. I have been listening to my favourite album for an hour. (in this statement you emphasise how hong the action of 'listening to the album' takes; without using 'for an hour' you would say the same words which are in statement 1.)

Now let's focus on the use of the Present Perfect Simple tense. It's still the same situation - you are listening to the album. Let's say there are 13 songs and the album lasts one and a half hours. So you would say:

4. I have listened to 9 songs so far. (which means that within the hour you have heard 9 songs out of the total of 13)

Statement 4. is the result of statement 3. Statement 3. focuses on the length of the action whereas statement 4. focuses on the result of the action.

Some more examples:

I have been watching videos since morning.
I have watched 5 videos since morning.

She has been writting letters up till now.
She has written 2 letters up till now.

They have been installing new software onto the computer since 4 o'clock.
They have installed only a word processor since 4 o'clock.

Mrs Patterson has been answering questions since the beginning of this year.
Mrs Patterson has answered over 2,000 questions since the beginning of this year.

[kenji]

ahhh...

present perfect is used in 3 possible structures
1. past action with a relationship now "i have painted the room"
2. past action that stopped recently " i have finished my class" ...maybe 3o minutes ago
3. life's experience ( not 1 and 2)..." i have been to china"

present perfect continuous also has three possible meanings....
1. past action that continues until the moment of speaking
2. past action that stopped recently (similar with present perfect no. 2 but PPC no. 2 is more recent than PP no.2...but usually they are interchangeable)
3. something happening continually/regularly not continuously from the past till now.."i have been visiting her"...before until this time but with interruptions!

THE MAIN DIFFERENCE WAS CITED BEFOREHAND...
WHEN YOU FOCUS MORE ON THE RESULT OF THE ACTION,..PRESENT PERFECT IS BETTER..
" I have painted the room" so the room color now is blue..
it was white before..
"I have been painting the room so now i am tired.."

i have tried to make everything simple..
just ask if something isn't clear yet!

ok

[la_patata]

Originally Posted by kenji

"I have been painting the room so now i am tired.."

I think that sentence "I have been painting the room (without the second sentence) can imply that you are still doing it, so the action has not finished.