(Sorry if this is unrelated!)
Hi,
"It's a week that I've been studying."
"It's been a week that I've been studying."
"It's been a week that I'm studying."
Is anything wrong with the second and third sentences?
********** NOT a teacher **********
Hello, Mehrgan.
(1) I have been unable to find a direct answer to your question.
(2) So I shall present some information. Then we can make an educated
guess.
(3) Professor George O. Curme wrote an authoritative two-volume
grammar entitled
A Grammar of the English Language.
(a) He says that we use
since when we wish to indicate that the action
is past; we use
that when we indicate that the action is still continuing.
(i) His
since example is:
It is (or
has been) a long time since I have seen
him. [I read on the Web someone's opinion that
has been may be an
older expression. I notice that Professor Curme did put
has been in
parentheses, as if to say:
is is more common, but
has been is also
acceptable.]
(ii) His two
that examples are:
It is now four years that I
have studied.
It is now four years that I
have been studying.
(4) Based on the expert evidence above, I shall offer my guess --
which, of course, could be 100% wrong. Maybe your guess will be
different.
In my opinion, I think that the following versions of your sentence
would be "good" English:
It is a week that I have studied.
It has been a week that I have studied.
It is a week that I have been studying.
It has been a week that I have been studying.
(I believe that
It is/has been a week that I am studying is not
"correct." The present progressive does not seem to fit.)
(5) Hopefully a teacher will either confirm or refute my analysis.
THANK YOU
So I'm convinced that using the present continuous wouldn't be grammatical. Yours.
