Quote:
Originally Posted by esophea I have lived in London for 5 years.
I have been living in london for 5 years.
Which one is better |
In your example the two tenses can be used interchangeably but:
1. Present perfect simple can be used with
dynamic and stative verbs whereas the continuous form
only with dynamic verbs. You can't use it with verbs like: understand, know...)
2. Present perfect continuous puts the focus on the
action (dynamic: no mention whether the action (possibly without interruption) is complete or not) whereas the simple on
results (I have written five letters).
3. Sometimes present perfect continuous answers questions like:
What have you been doing? The speaker is only interested to find out:
I have been reading. (this is how I spent my time)