[Grammar] past continuous vs present perfect continuous

[taksobie]

Hello, I have a question about past continuous and present perfect continuous. What's the difference between sentences :
I was ironing.
I have been ironing. ?

Greetings from snowy Poland! ;-)

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forums, taksobie.:-D

The difference between those tenses depends on the wider context.

'I was ironing my shirts when the doorbell rang.'

'I have been ironing all morning; I need to sit down.'

Rover

 

[Odessa Dawn]

'I have been ironing all morning; I need to sit down.'

Rover

Question: Can semicolon in here be replaced by the connected word "and?"

Thank you,
​

 

[grammar girl]

Welcome to the forums, taksobie.:-D

The difference between those tenses depends on the wider context.

'I was ironing my shirts when the doorbell rang.'

'I have been ironing all morning; I need to sit down.'

Rover

1)We use the past continuous to say that somebody was in the middle of doing something at a certain time: "I was ironing my shirts when the doorbell rang."
2) We use the present perfect continuous for an activity that has recently stopped or just stopped (there's a connection with now) : "I have been ironing all morning; I need to sit down."

 

[Rover_KE]

Question: Can the semicolon in here be replaced by the conjunction "and?"

​

Yes, it can. You could also use 'so'.

Rover

 

[taksobie]

Thank you very much!

 

[Rover_KE]

Your thanks are appreciated, taksobie, but you don't need to send them in a separate post.

We are all happy to accept a simple click on the Like button as your acknowledgement of our help.

Rover:-D