Tense

[MIA6]

Does Present Perfect tense represent an action that happened in the past and still continues to the moment of speaking? If so, it means an action is still going on when you are speaking, right? ok, Here is an example: A mum is now speaking to her husband on phone:" I have looked for our daughter for a long time. I am so worried about her! " It means She looked for her daughter in the past, but is she still looking for her daughter at the moment of speaking? Not really... because she is now making the phone call. But i think she looks for her daughter recently, from Monday to today, at least she doesn't stop to find her. What do you think?

Thanks.

[VenusEnvy]

Originally Posted by MIA6

Does Present Perfect tense represent an action that happened in the past and still continues to the moment of speaking? If so, it means an action is still going on when you are speaking, right? ok, Here is an example: A mum is now speaking to her husband on phone:" I have looked for our daughter for a long time. I am so worried about her! "

As far as I know, I believe that one function of the present perfect is to talk about things that events that happened in the past at un unspecified time and that have a connection with the present.

I have looked for our daughter for a long time.
To me, this means that she looked for their daughter at some time in the past, and for an extended period of time. When? I'm not sure.

I have been looking for our daughter for a long time.
To me, this means that she looked for their daughter for a long time, and continues to look for her.


What do others have to say?