I have enjoyed vs I have been enjoying...

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Catherine C.

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The following sentence was written by one of my students.

>>>I have been enjoying many sports since 3years old. <<<

Obviously the last part should be "since I was 3 years old" but there's something about the first part that doesn't sound natural to me. I corrected it by changing it to:

>>>I have enjoyed many sports since I was 3 years old.<<<

My student is wondering why her original sentence is not correct "because I have enjoyed many sports since the age of 3 and "I am *still* enjoying many sports".

Which is correct? And why?

I'm drawing a blank right now...any and all help would be greating appreciated.

Regards,
Catherine
 

Casiopea

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Perfect "have" coupled with progressive/continuous "been enjoying", expresses a present or recent ongoing action/state; e.g., I have been enjoying our visits together.

What our sentence needs is a perfect verb + a gerund, either stated or implied (. . .), and maybe even add in "ever" to give it a bit of extra continuity:

EX: I've enjoyed [playing] sports ever since I was 3 years old.
 

Catherine C.

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Thank you so very much! Does our sentence automatically imply that this person still enjoys playing sports? (my student pointed out that she wanted the reader to know that she "still enjoys playing sports"...

Thanks again...

Catherine
 

Tdol

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Ithink the present perfect imlies th 'till enjoying',especially when used with 'ever since'. While we do use the progressive form with 'enjoy', the original sentence doesn't sound natural. ;-)
 

Catherine C.

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Thank you very muich!
 
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