I have lived here all my life. I’ll never move.

[Alice Chu]

1. I have lived here all my life. I’ll never move.
We don’t use “have been living” here because it means a temporary action and the speaker will move in the future.

 

[jutfrank]

No, that's not right. If the speaker says she'll never move, we have no reason to think she will.

 

[Alice Chu]

No, that's not right. If the speaker says she'll never move, we have no reason to think she will.

Quiz: Present Perfect Simple & Progressive 2

Q1 - I've ____ here all my life.
lived
been living
Either could be used here

The answer is "lived". Is the answer correct?

 

[jutfrank]

No. The correct answer is that either could be used.

Where did you get this quiz from? Do you know why the person who wrote it believes that lived is the correct answer?

 

[tzfujimino]

Here's the source:
https://www.usingenglish.com/quizzes/332.html

 

[emsr2d2]

Interesting! I disagree with UE's answer. It should say that either could be used.

There's an error in Q5. The opening question, "What have you been?", is not natural.

 

[5jj]

I got only 70% on that. It's clearly time I retired - or perhaps Alice wrote the quiz.

 

[jutfrank]

It's a poorly written quiz, in my judgement. I wouldn't recommend it. In fact, I'd rewrite it or take it down.

I also got 7 out of 10.

 

[5jj]

I also got 7 out of 10.

Perhaps it's time you joined me in retirement.

 

[emsr2d2]

I got 9/10 - Q1 (the one being discussed in this thread) was the one that was marked wrong.

 

[5jj]

You are less tolerant of alternatives than jutfrank or I. It may be caused by the lack of meat in your diet, or perhaps by your OCD disorder.

 

[TheParser]

NOT A TEACHER


I thought that maybe some learners would be interested in the opinion of an author who is respected by many teachers and students.

1. "We often prefer (my emphasis) the present perfect progressive to talk about more temporary actions."

a. "I've been living in Sue's flat for the last month."

2. "We often prefer the simple present perfect" for "longer-lasting or permanent situations."

a. "My parents have lived in Bristol all their lives."

3. Personally, I feel more comfortable telling people that I have lived in Los Angeles since the 1940s.


-- Michael Swan, Practical English Usage (1995), page 426 (entry 420.6).

 

[Alice Chu]

Could you please write some quizzes or tests to help me understand well about present perfect and present perfect continuous? Thank you very much for your help. By the way, I haven't written any quizzes or tests here.

 

[tzfujimino]

Could you please write some quizzes or tests to help me understand well about present perfect and present perfect continuous? Thank you very much for your help. By the way, I haven't written any quizzes or tests here. I know.

Try these:
Present perfect simple and continuous | Grammar - Intermediate to upper intermediate | British Council

Present perfect simple and present perfect continuous | Learn and Practise Grammar (oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com)

 

[5jj]

Could you please write some quizzes or tests to help me understand well about present perfect and present perfect continuous?

I couldn't. I doubt if anybody could devise infallible quizzes. Four fairly knowledgeable people got different results on the quiz we mentioned above. The compiler of the quiz presumably got ten right (in their opinion), emsr2d2 got nine, and jutfrank and I got seven.

If you have enough context, there are situations in which one of the two forms is unacceptable, and many situations in which one is unlikely. However, there are many situations in which either is possible. I think you understand generally how we use the two forms most of the time, but you are trying to pin too much meaning into the use of a tense/aspect alone. As you have discovered, different people give different opinions. Much of the material you have found, including what members here say, should be taken as guidelines, not rules. If there were infallible rules, we would all know them.

By the way, I haven't written any quizzes or tests here.

That was one of my occasional misguided attempts at humour.

 

[tzfujimino]

I think you understand generally how we use the two forms most of the time, but you are trying to pin too much meaning into the use of a tense/aspect alone. As you have discovered, different people give different opinions. Much of the material you have found, including what members here say, should be taken as guidelines, not rules.

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

 

[jutfrank]

I think you should stop trying to make up your own examples, and stop referring to online resources. You're not going to learn a lot by doing poorly written quizzes you find on the internet. Since your goal I assume is to be able to teach this stuff, I'd suggest you get some professional reference books and learn from those. I'd be more than happy to recommend some to you.

 

[Alice Chu]

Since your goal I assume is to be able to teach this stuff, I'd suggest you get some professional reference books and learn from those. I'd be more than happy to recommend some to you.

Please recommend some professional reference books to me. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[jutfrank]

Please recommend some professional reference books to me.

Before I do, please give me some background on your teaching. The better the picture you give me, the better I'll be able to recommend resources. If you don't want to say it here, feel free to PM me.

 

[probus]

As an aside, there is a genre of American humour that features unhelpful, laconic but indisputable replies from a farmer. His answer to "Have you lived here all your life?" would be "Not yet".