Have you been catching any fish?

[kttlt]

You see somebody fishing by the river, you ask:

a) "Have you been catching any fish?"
b) "Have you caught any fish?"

As I understand, option b) definitely isn't wrong, you simply ask about the result of the activity. What I want to know is whether option a) is applicable depending on the context. For example, I'm wondering about fishing conditions today and want to know If the person I'm talking to have had any luck yet. Would that question make sense then?

 

[jutfrank]

Yes.

 

[kttlt]

Yes.

Someone presented this to me as a question they've encountered in a test. If you had to choose one option as the preferred/"correct" one, which would it be?

 

[jutfrank]

Is that the entire context of the question? If so, it's not a good one. As you know, both are grammatical and both would make sense in the right place. Since we don't have any context to know what they're supposed to mean, we can only try to imagine what they could mean. The question should rather be something like 'Which of the following is it easier for you to imagine someone saying?'

Having said that, I'd bet my house that the test writer wants you to choose b) as the correct answer, so that's what I'd put.

 

[kttlt]

Is that the entire context of the question?

As far as I know, yes.

If so, it's not a good one.

I agree.

Having said that, I'd bet my house that the test writer wants you to choose b) as the correct answer, so that's what I'd put.

That's what I thought, thank you for the answer.