[Grammar] She feels very energetic because she has been sleeping all day long.

[chagdash]

Hi,

I have a question about the following sentence:

She feels very energetic because she has been sleeping all day long.

In grammar books, the following usage is provided for Present Perfect Continuous:

- for past actions of certain duration having visible results or effects in the present

In a sentence like 'He feels very tired because he has been working all day long', I do not sense any awkwardness or illogical sequencing of events/situations and I can easily associate the above usage with the example.

However, the first sentence leads me to think that 'sleeping' might not be fit for Present Perfect usage as I feel that tense structure is leaving a gap or causing a missing link (such as 'waking up' and even 'getting up') between the two actions, namely 'sleeping' and 'feeling'.

Could you please reflect on this?

Thank you very much in advance.

Cagdas

 

[jutfrank]

The sentence in question is a very good example of use of the present perfect continuous.

You have a very common misunderstanding of the meaning of this tense. It is not necessary for the action signified by the verb (sleeping) to continue until the present moment. What continues until the present moment is the timeframe within which the continuous action happens, not necessarily the action itself.

 

[chagdash]

What continues until the present moment is the timeframe within which the continuous action happens, not necessarily the action itself.

So, can we say 'all day long' is the crucial element in this sentence? Is 'She feels very energetic because she has been sleeping' also grammatically correct?

I also have one more request: Is there any other construction that would convey the same meaning?

 

[emsr2d2]

I [STRIKE]also[/STRIKE] have one more [STRIKE]request[/STRIKE] question: Is there any other construction that would convey the same meaning?

She feels very energetic [this evening] because she slept all day.

 

[jutfrank]

So, can we say 'all day long' is the crucial element in this sentence?

No. It's not crucial for the sense. From a teaching point of view, you might consider it a crucial part of the illustrative power of the example, since it helps express that the action was going on continuously for a long time. Is that what you mean?

Is 'She feels very energetic because she has been sleeping' also grammatically correct?

Yes. The time phrase simply gives additional information, about the temporal nature of the action—not the timeframe.

Is there any other construction that would convey the same meaning?

I don't really know what you mean. Why are you asking this?