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Originally Posted by ESL-lover Hello my teachers.......
How can I distinguish between present perfect and present perfect continuous in meaning?
Thank you................... |
For action verbs, the
present perfect simple describes a finished action and the
present perfect continuous (also called the present perfect progressive) describes an action that is unfinished:
I've read the book. (finished)
I've been reading the book. (unfinished- it could mean that I am actually reading at the moment, but not necessarily)
For stative verbs, they are both unfinished, but the continuous form generally describes something temporary:
He's lived there all his life. (unfinished)
I've been living here for six months. (unfinished, but it doesn't feel permanent yet or may I may be planning to move on)
HTH.