How do you feel about "I have written letters all day" in this context?

Hello all.

How do you feel about "I have written letters all day" in this context?


Talking to myself:

The final between Nadal and Federer is starting at six and I still have a lot of work to do. I am afraid I can´t make it. I have writen letters all day but I am still not finished. It´s endless. I had better give myself a break. Anyway it doesn´t matter whether I finish it at nine or at eight......


I know that there is the preference of using "present perfect continuous" but Iam trying to find out some context where this sentence will fit. My teacher says it is rarely used.

Thank you.

May I ask you about one more sentence? I would say it is topical - the same grammar phenomenon.


Can I use this present perfect simple instead of present perfect continuous in such a case as:


I have used it for a few months. - When talking about a part of grammar I have been used to using until now but now I realize that I didn´t understand it correctly and have to ask my teacher to explain me more?

EDIT:

Let me give you an example:

Did I really make a mistake? Oh gosh. I thought this was the only way to say that. I have used this phrase for months and nobody has ever told me that it is not correct English.

That's fine.

It's OK but you are much more likely to hear either "I have been writing letters all day" (the person might not have finished writing) or "I was writing letters all day" (they've finished writing).

BHAISAHAB: Is this reaction to my original sentence or to my additional one (I have used this phrase for months ) ? If it wasn´t could you tell me whether my second sentence is possible as well?

Thank you.

I'm not sure if Piscean meant "It's unnatural". I find your sentences unnatural.
Both: "I have written letters all day" and "I have used it for a few months."
emsr2d2's sentences are correct, common and natural.

You've been using the wrong grammar until now.

Dominik92 said:

I know that there is the preference of using "present perfect continuous" but I am trying to find out some context where this sentence will fit. My teacher says it is rarely used.

Click to expand...

Simply having completed the letters and speaking as you licked the last envelope and looked forward to dinner would make it a less unnatural sentence, though still not a winner. Your teacher has a point.

"I have written letters/articles etcetera all my life" works better than "I have been writing..." IMO.

Thank you very much for all your help.

1) I have used this racket for 2/5/10 years. (Now I probably will start using a new type of the racket.) Hope "the" to be the right article here :/

2) I have used this phrase for months and nobody has ever told me that it wasn´t correct English.



1) I have studied all day.

2) I have written letters all day.


I think I see where the problem comes from. In teacher´s opinion sentences "1" are possible and used more often than sentences "2". She admitted that it could be possible to say "I have written letters all day" e.g. at the end of a day but still it is not very common. I see that you, native speakers, agree with her which is great but at the same time it is not helping me to understand the difference between the sentences. I am failing to understand why sentences "1" are much better to use than the sentences "2". It is the same construction however the use differs significantly. Please, would it be possible to explain me why it is so rare to say " I have written letters all day" , "I have used this phrase for months..." but on the other hand sentences like " I´ve studied all day" , " I have used this racket for 2 years" are much better?

My teacher added that sentence with letters is possible to say if I wanted to focus on time rather than on the activity. In her opinion it is the activity most people would focus on and therefore they would tend to use present perfect continuous tense instead of present perfect simple. I don´t understand why it sounds unnatural (to my teacher, and you) as I would expect that it is just up to me (a speaker) to decide whether we want to make the sentence sound either focused on time or on the activity.

It would help me so much if you could help me with this "strange" use of present perfect.

Thank you very much.

P.S. Piscean: Don´t worry. I am thankful that you guys find some of your time to help us here. We all make "mistakes":up:

You could look at this thread, in which a similar problem was recently not solved either:had rained/ had been raining
You've had some of the greatest minds on the channel giving their opinions. I'm not sure that you're going to get your answer. We natives just know which is the best form without having ever thought why. So it might even be easier for a non-native speaker to work it out! It's a good question, and there certainly must be a reason why we natives agree. But we can't give a definitive reason. Let us know if you find one.

"Now I probably will start using a new type of [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] racket.) Hope "the" to be the right article here"
No, there's no article - "the new type of racket."

Thank you very much for your responses.

This is the hardest point in grammar I have ever faced. Fortunately I love English too much to give up on it but it is giving me a hard time, really. I see that my teacher and even you can not give me more advice as it is just impossible to explain it more.


My English is not perfect, no doubt about that, but I think I can say that there have been a lot of hard things for me to learn and I have always managed to learn it somehow. Especially thanks to listening native speakers on TV, radio etc.

In this case it is a bit different. I´ve heard a lot of people using this construction but when I´ve tried using it , I´ve failed - usually , sometimes I ´ve been lucky but it doesn´t count. I am putting all my effort to English but again...here it is not enough. I feel as if I were overlooking something. Something very important. I´ve also done a few exercises focused on this use of present perfect but it is usually focused on two words only - live and work. Even my teacher can´t explain it more and suggests that I ask you when in doubt. But there is the problem which Raymott mentiones in the post above -you use it without thinking about it much - I do the same in my native language, obviously.

What do you think is the best way how to learn it? There isn´t any problem with my attitude at all, I am willing to do anything to learn it.

I ´d like to find something which would help me (in most cases) to feel/see whether it is ok to use it or not Or at least find some exercises to get used to it a bit more.

Piscean: But I don´t have to be finished doing it, right? I was told I could say: I´ve repaired cars for 20 years when making a summary - but it doesn´t necessarily have to mean that I won´t continue repairing cars, does it?

You can use "I've repaired cars for 20 years" if you're still repairing cars for a living (or for a hobby). If you no longer repair cars, you would use "I repaired cars for 20 years".

The former is similar to saying "I have been repairing cars for 20 years".

My mother's first language was Polish. She began studying English at the age of thirteen while imprisoned in a Nazi ghetto and never lived in an English-speaking country until she fled to England after the war, at age eighteen. She nevertheless mastered the language so well that the very prestigious American literary magazine, The Atlantic Monthly, published her first short story, written in English of course. I wonder if my father has the manuscript filed away somewhere; I'd be curious to see whether the editors corrected a single fault in English usage.

My mother was rather a language genius. The rest of us are extremely unlikely to duplicate her feat. Dominik92, I think you should congratulate yourself on your already-excellent level of English. I wouldn't focus too much on this very tricky issue of tense selection. You get your articles right nearly every time, something few Slavic-language-speakers ever achieve in English; your texts flow well and contain few clues they're written by a non-native-speaker. If you won't take my advice and congratulate yourself, allow me to do it for you: congratulations!

GoesStation: Thank you very much for your kind words. It mean a lot to me to hear that from a native speaker.

I wish I had a piece of the talent as your mother did. In my case there is a lot of hard work behind it. I´ve spent a lot of sleepless nights to get where I am today. And I am afraid there are more of them to come. I probably won´t start studying another language in the near future as the priority is to master English perfectly.

Really appreciate all your support here. Helping people in your free time , not being paid for it, answering the same/similar questions over and over again sometimes..... :up:

P.S. I should discuss this thread with my teacher next week and in case of some additional question I would come back ...if possible