[Grammar] past continuous vs present perfect continuous

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taksobie

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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

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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

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'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

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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

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taksobie

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Thank you very much! :)
 

Rover_KE

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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
 
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