[Grammar] What is the correct answer and why?

[cherry maltezidou]

I have these three examples:

1) Jane is resting because she (has had / has been having) a bad headache all day.
2) Your clothes are all dirty. What (did you do/have you been doing)?
3) My back hurts so I (have slept / have been sleeping) on a hard bed.

Thanks in advance!

 

[teechar]

Can you try first?

 

[Tarheel]

That is not a good thread title. Furthermore, you should know that "why" questions are always the hardest.

You can use the "Thank" button to thank somebody.

 

[Rover_KE]

Cherry, we don't do your homework.

I can tell you that for #3, neither alternative works.

 

[cherry maltezidou]

Cherry, we don't do your homework.

I can tell you that for #3, neither alternative works.

I'm not doing my homework! I'm trying to remember english grammar and i wanted a second opinion.
I found the examples in an english grammar book. So, it says that the correct answer is "have been sleeping" but i still can't understand why?


P.S. I wish I was that diligent as a student...but no! I would never ask my homework online :lol:

 

[cherry maltezidou]

Thanks for the info, i didn't know this button. Any suggestion for a better thread title?
Do you imply that I shouldn't ask "why" questions because they are hard?

 

[cherry maltezidou]

Of course...

1) Jane is resting because she has had a bad headache all day. ("Have" is a stative verb so we can't use the other option)
2) Your clothes are all dirty. What have you been doing? (an action that still influences the present because the clothes are dirty)
3) My back hurts so I have been sleeping on a hard bed. (It makes no sense to me the whole sentence...so I have no idea why this is like that!)

 

[Rover_KE]

Any suggestion for a better thread title?

'Jane is resting because ...'

 

[GoesStation]

I can tell you that for #3, neither alternative works.

Cherry, as you've seen below, other forum members don't agree with this. I don't either; the continuous works fine for me. Sometimes we use the present perfect continuous to describe an activity we have engaged in regularly in recent times. For example, I've been eating muesli for breakfast lately. You can often omit the adverb at the end and the listener will understand the sentence the same way.

 

[Tarheel]

Thanks for the info, i didn't know ABOUT THAT button. Any suggestionS for a better thread title?
Do you MEAN that I shouldn't ask "why" questions because they are hard?

Often there is no answer as to why something is said a certain way. It just is. In other cases I know something implicitly, but explaining it it might be hard. (It also might require more typing than I want to do.) At those times I gladly leave the explanations to the professional teachers.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'm not doing my homework! I'm trying to remember English grammar and I wanted a second opinion.
I found the examples in an English grammar book. [strike]So,[/strike] It says that the correct answer is "have been sleeping" but I still can't understand why. (This is not a question so a question mark is inappropriate.)


P.S. I wish I was [STRIKE]that[/STRIKE] a diligent [STRIKE]as a[/STRIKE] student ... but no! I would never ask someone else to do my homework. [STRIKE]online[/STRIKE] :lol:

Note my corrections above. Take care with your capitalisation of proper nouns and the first person singular pronoun.

 

[GoesStation]

P.S. I wish I [strike]was[/strike] had been that diligent as a student...but no! I would never ask online for someone to do my homework. [strike]online[/strike]

This is my version of that sentence. I think ems (in an extremely rare lapse) missed the nuance at the beginning.

 

[cherry maltezidou]

Why is "imply" inappropriate for the sentence?

 

[cherry maltezidou]

Thank you! Now it makes sense to me

 

[GoesStation]

Do you imply that I shouldn't ask "why" questions because they are hard?

Why is "imply" inappropriate for the sentence?

If you're asking about the above quoted question, the only problem is that the verb is in the wrong tense. You should ask Are you implying....

 

[Tarheel]

Why is "imply" inappropriate for the sentence?

If you are not saying something straightforwardly, but are suggesting something, then use the word "imply". However, I am pretty sure that I came right out and said what I meant to say.

A. You are a liar.
B. You don't mean what you say.

See the difference?