[Grammar] Present Perfect Continuous AND Present Perfect

[danghuynh88]

Hi guys

Can you tell me any kind of tricks to use these two tenses. Although I know the usage of I don't seem to distinguish it very well.

Thanks

 

[Rover_KE]

First read the Similar Threads below and then ask us again if you have any specific problems.

 

[danghuynh88]

Hi thank you, I have a specific example, look at this sentence please

My best friend and I (know) each other for over fifteen years. We still get together once a week.

I am supposed to put "have known" in the blank which is a present perfect tense. But I don't quite understand this, a present perfect tense indicates an action which already happened and finished. In this sentence, we cannot understand my best friend and I finish knowing each other for over 15 years right ?

Thanks

 

[tedmc]

The use of present perfect tense does not mean that something is over or finished. It can still be true at the time of writing.

 

[danghuynh88]

I just bumped into this sentence and it makes me confused. Examples:

This sentence is using present perfect continuous:
Claude: I (study) have been studying here for more than three years.

But this sentence is using present perfect according to the right answer.
I (have) have had the same car for more than ten years.


or this one
I (love) have loved chocolate since I was a child. You might even call me a "chocoholic."

I still love chocolate when I grew up, definitely. Then should it be I have been loving chocolate since I was a child ?

Can you help me to realise when should I use the right tense.

Thanks

 

[emsr2d2]

The main difference is that "having" or "owning" something is not seen as a continuous action, whereas "studying" is.

We don't say "I am having a car". We say "I have a car". However, we do say "I am studying English".

 

[Matthew Wai]

This is rarely the case when the present perfect is used with 'since' or 'for'.

This seems to be case with the following example, which I wrote two years ago.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...ertain-years?p=1071800&viewfull=1#post1071800

This also seems to be case in the following context, which I thought up two years ago.
https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/...for-10-years?p=1060909&viewfull=1#post1060909

 

[Raymott]

Can you help me to realise when should I use the right tense.

There are some verbs that tend to take one tense and other verbs that take the other - even if it is difficult to see the logical difference.
1. "I have been living here for three years"; "I have lived here for three years." Both right.
2. "I have been loving you for three years." No, you have to use the non-continuous form for this (almost always), even though living and loving are just as continuous.

emsr2d2 has given other examples. 'Having' and 'owning' are not used in the continuous form, but the having and the owning are continuous states.
In fact, you can say, "I've been having these pains for three years", which usually indicates a non-continuous condition (it's episodic), whereas "I've had this pain for three years" (usually) indicates a continuous condition!

So you can't choose just based on the logic. I wish I could give you rules, but I don't think there are any that can be given explicitly without many exceptions.

 

[danghuynh88]

2. "I have been loving you for three years." No, you have to use the non-continuous form for this (almost always), even though living and loving are just as continuous.

So you meant I can't say I have been loving you for three years, I have to use the non-continous form right ? I saw this on internet
http://cooljugator.com/en/love#presentandpast

 

[emsr2d2]

That website appears to simply conjugate every single verb in existence into every tense. It makes no claim as to how natural or otherwise the usage is.

 

[Raymott]

That site also gives sentences in which the word 'loving' is correctly used, though I didn't notice any used with the past perfect continuous tense. Did you think I was claiming that 'loving' wasn't a proper word?
And when a teacher says, "X is almost always wrong", that is not invalidated even if you find an acceptable example of X. Like emsr2d2, I'm not sure you've understood what I've said. The important point is that there is no easy explanation of the tense rules that you were asking about.