2006Hi again
1)I've been living in this old house for six years.
2)I've lived in this old house for six years.
The two sentences are diffrent, so they mean:
1) I'm still living in it.
2) I'm not living in it anymore.
Is that right!!! No. Both sentences mean you are still living in it. 'I lived in.....' would mean that you're not living in it any more.
I have lived here for six months-present perfect.Hi again
1)I've been living in this old house for six years.
2)I've lived in this old house for six years.
The two sentences are diffrent, so they mean:
1) I'm still living in it.
2) I'm not living in it anymore.
Is that right!!!
I have lived here for six months-present perfect.
This may mean 'you are living in this house noe or you may not.
Present perfect indicates a past action;a completed past action related to the present.
I have completed my English homework and I'm yet to complete my science homework.The action is complete.
I have studied Shakespeare.You are not studying now.
Present perfect focuses more on results and effects.
Ihave been living in this old house for six years -present perfect continuous
You are living in this house now.
Present perfect cntinuous suggests an action started in the past and not yet completed.The stress is on the continuous and on going activity.
This is followed by 'for' or 'since'.
The following sentences will be of help to differentiate.
Where are the cookies?
I have eaten all.there arn't any.
Ihave been eating these cookies.Here are some.
Regards,
rj1948
1)I've been living in this old house for six years.
2)I've lived in this old house for six years.
Let's take (2) first. This is present perfect tense. It means that 6 years ago, you moved into, started living in the house; and you have lived there from that moment, right up to this moment.STOP. (You might intend to keep on living there; or you could be saying this as you stand on the doorstep, taking one last look back, as you leave to move elsewhere. It refers to a period of time between some past moment, and this present moment.)
David's right here. Because of the adverbial phrase, "for six years", there is an implication is that the person still lives in the house.
But as David says, he may not. I'll borrow David's scenario, if I may;
... you could be saying this as you stand on the doorstep, taking one last look back, as you leave to move elsewhere.
Here we have the present perfect of current relevance/recently finished event/importance added to a finished action. The speaker could in this case, use the simple past though for BrE the likelihood is that the present perfect will be used.
For NaE speakers, the choice between the past simple or the present perfect is more a question of how much importance they want to place upon the action.
Now let's look at another scenario. That same man, 6 years down the road, married, walking with his wife and child go thru this neighborhood.
Husband: [looking at the house] I've lived in this house.
Wife: Really Dear, when was that?
This is the present perfect of experience. The wife, being his wife, knows that this doesn't represent a situation that is "up to now". But other ENLs who don't know him and hear his remark would almost certainly take it to be an expression of a past experience.
I've been living in this old house for six years.
This is present perfect continous. It has the same meaning as I outlined with present perfect above PLUS it indicates that you will continue to do so indefinitely/to some unstated time in the future.
I should have prefaced my remarks with a "without context" comment. But even so, "I've been living..." and "I've lived..." are usually used when one wants to mean 'still living'. Otherwise one should just say "I lived...'.
Of course, by adding special context one can make the situation a lot more complicated.
One cause of confusion, at least in my opinion, is that people often use perfect tense when simple past would be perfectly adequate, and this can really make for a complicated and confusing situation.
hi riverkid
Thanks for your comments, but I am not sure which specific "errant ideas" you are referring to.
If Patty still smokes,use-Patty has been smoking since 1980.simply I'm confused again.
"Present perfect can be used for unfinished events or states in the past, which continue to the present.
ex: Patty has smoked since 1980.(patty still smokes).
-He has been sick for a month.(unfinished action)". From my advanced grammar book.
Now come back againto my early example:
I've lived in this old house for six years.( according to the above quote this must be an unfinished action). right!!!
Now let me quote Riverkid on that:
"Husband: [looking at the house] I've lived in this house.
Wife: Really Dear, when was that? "
I think you must use past perfect unstead, because it's a finished action. You should say:
I had lived in this house or I had been living in this house.
Kindly correct my mistakes.
Absolutely correct.The present perfect does not at all suggest that an action is finished.
How long have you lived here?
:up:I've lived here for 6 years.
Does that suggest the guy is moving house? No.
:up:The use of the continuous . . . I've been living here . . only emphasizes the continuity of the action.
It means the same as I've lived here . . but with added emphasis on the fact that it's been a continuous process