How many clients have you been signing this month?

[no_duality]

Can Perfect Continuous be used in questions beginning with “how many”?
E.g.: “How many clients have you been signing this month?”
“How many times have you been calling her this morning?”
“How many poems had she been writing before 2010?”
Do native English speakers ever use such questions? If yes, how common are they?

 

[5jj]

'How many times ...?' asks about completed situations in the past. The present perfect continuous does not work with this idea.

 

[teechar]

Can the present perfect continuous be used in questions beginning with “how many”?

Yes, it can, but the sentences you quoted are nearly all flawed.

E.g.: “How many clients have you been signing this month?”

The problem with that is the choice of verb and the time marker. A better example:
How many of your medicines have you been avoiding since talking to that quack?

“How many times have you been calling her this morning?”

The perfect continuous highlights a period (length) of time, not so much a discrete number of times/incidences. Thus, "how many times" does not really work with it.

“How many poems had she been writing before 2010?”

That's just about possible; for example, if she had started writing several poems and not finished them before she died in 2010. However, even in such a context, it would be better to say: "How many poems had she started writing before 2010?", meaning the perfect aspect is somewhat awkward in it.

 

[Tarheel]

I wrote a poem.
I started it, and I finished it. It is complete. It's finished.

I have been writing a poem.
The poem I have been working on is not finished. I haven't finished it. It's incomplete.

I have been writing poems today.
Maybe they are finished. Maybe they are not finished. In any case, I have been working on two or more poems.

I wrote three poems today.
I wrote some poems today. I finished three.

I have been writing poems for a long time.
It is unclear how long of a duration "a long time" is in that sentence.

The way you say something depends on what you want to say

 

[no_duality]

I wrote a poem.
I started it, and I finished it. It is complete. It's finished.

I have been writing a poem.
The poem I have been working on is not finished. I haven't finished it. It's incomplete.

I have been writing poems today.
Maybe they are finished. Maybe they are not finished. In any case, I have been working on two or more poems.

I wrote three poems today.
I wrote some poems today. I finished three.

I have been writing poems for a long time.
It is unclear how long of a duration "a long time" is in that sentence.

The way you say something depends on what you want to say

All this has been clear to me. My question is specifically about the validity of QUESTIONS combining "how many" and Perfect Continuous

 

[no_duality]

Yes, it can, but the sentences you quoted are nearly all flawed.

The problem with that is the choice of verb and the time marker. A better example:
How many of your medicines have you been avoiding since talking to that quack?

The perfect continuous highlights a period (length) of time, not so much a discrete number of times/incidences. Thus, "how many times" does not really work with it.

That's just about possible; for example, if she had started writing several poems and not finished them before she died in 2010. However, even in such a context, it would be better to say: "How many poems had she started writing before 2010?", meaning the perfect aspect is somewhat awkward in it.

Thank you. But are you a native English speaker? Is English your mother tongue? I'm asking because I see you're from Iraq. I'm a Russian myself and my understanding here is pretty much as yours.

All the three examples I provided are AI-generated; they all seem fishy to me, but AIs gave various reasons and explanations why they are correct and claimed this pattern is used by native speakers So I decided to ask native English speakers themselves in case I have a blank in my knowledge and understanding. You see, in Russian there is nothing like Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous forms; so maybe I'm not getting something. That's why I'm being so picky.

 

[5jj]

Thank you. But are you a native English speaker? Is English your mother tongue? I'm asking because I see you're from Iraq. I'm a Russian myself and my understanding here is pretty much as yours.

To the left of teechar's posts you can see the following information:

Joined: Feb 18, 2015
Member Type: English Teacher
Native Language: English

 

[5jj]

ps. to the left of this post you will see that my native language is British English, but my home country is the Czech Republic. The fact that I have lived in the Czech Republic for over 25 years, and now have Czech nationality, does not change my native language.

 

[no_duality]

ps. to the left of this post you will see that my native language is British English, but my home country is the Czech Republic. The fact that I have lived in the Czech Republic for over 25 years, and now have Czech nationality does not change my native language.

Thank you very much for this clarification. I only asked because I need to be sure where the answer is coming from (I know some people believe their English to be good enough to declare it as their native language in their profiles; at least I've seen it on Interpals).

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you very much for this clarification. I only asked because I need to be sure where the answer is coming from (I know some people believe their English to be good enough to declare it as their native language in their profiles; at least I've seen it on Interpals).

I'm not familiar with that platform but I can assure you that, on this forum, as soon as we get a whiff that someone's native language is not English (if they claim it is), they're challenged and face consequences if they fail to tell the truth. Also, teechar is a moderator on this forum. If they weren't who they say they are, they wouldn't have reached such dizzying heights!

 

[5jj]

I should also like to add that some of the members who have given extremely helpful and knowledgeable responses over the years have been non-native speakers.

When we occasionally receive unhelpful or misleading responses (from naive or non-native speakers), our mods and senior members soon rectify matters.

 

[no_duality]

I'm not familiar with that platform but I can assure you that, on this forum, as soon as we get a whiff that someone's native language is not English (if they claim it is), they're challenged and face consequences if they fail to tell the truth. Also, teechar is a moderator on this forum. If they weren't who they say they are, they wouldn't have reached such dizzying heights!

Thank you very much for clarifying this and for bearing with me!

 

[Tarheel]

All this IS clear to me. My question is specifically about the validity of QUESTIONS combining "how many" and Perfect Continuous

I have to assume that my post was unhelpful. I promise not to bother you again.

 

[no_duality]

'How many times ...?' asks about completed situations in the past. The present perfect continuous does not work with this idea.

Ok, it doesn't work with "how many times ...?" That's clear. But it seems to have worked with Teechar's "how many medicines... ?"

Will it work if I ask "How many clients have you been signing over the last few months?"

 

[emsr2d2]

Ok OK/Okay, it doesn't work with "How many times ...?"

At the start of a sentence, you can write "OK" or "Okay". Elsewhere in a sentence, you can write "OK" or "okay". However, "Ok" is always wrong.
When you quote a sentence that started with a capital letter, it must start with a capital letter in the quotation marks too.

That's clear. But However, it seems to have worked with Teechar's "How many medicines ... ?"

As a learner, don't try to start sentences with "but".
Remember to put a space before the first dot of an ellipsis.

Will Does it work if I ask "How many clients have you been signing over the last few months?"?

You could also present your question as a hypothetical, in which case it would start "Would it work if I asked ...?"
If you ask a question that contains a quoted question, you need two question marks in total - one that ends the quote and one that ends the surrounding question.

I'd accept the continuous if there were a bit more information in the query. For example, "On average, how many clients a month have you been signing ...?" Having said that, I'd probably use the simple past in that as well!
The fact is that some verbs work with the continuous and some don't.

 

[no_duality]

At the start of a sentence, you can write "OK" or "Okay". Elsewhere in a sentence, you can write "OK" or "okay". However, "Ok" is always wrong.
When you quote a sentence that started with a capital letter, it must start with a capital letter in the quotation marks too.

As a learner, don't try to start sentences with "but".
Remember to put a space before the first dot of an ellipsis.

You could also present your question as a hypothetical, in which case it would start "Would it work if I asked ...?"
If you ask a question that contains a quoted question, you need two question marks in total - one that ends the quote and one that ends the surrounding question.

I'd accept the continuous if there were a bit more information in the query. For example, "On average, how many clients a month have you been signing ...?" Having said that, I'd probably use the simple past in that as well!
The fact is that some verbs work with the continuous and some don't.

I took the sentence "How many clients have you been signing over the last few months?" from an answer I received on English Stack Exchange where I'm asking the same I'm asking here. It was suggested by a native English speaker; another native English speaker left a comment, elucidating the implied meaning (which you expressed explicitly by modifying the sentence the way you did).

Could you, please, be so kind as to provide a few examples of questions that start with "How many" and use the present perfect continuous and the past perfect continuous?

And thank you for correcting my "Ok" as well as little punctuation and other issues

 

[jutfrank]

Will it work if I ask "How many clients have you been signing over the last few months?"

A sentence 'works' if it effectively expresses what the speaker means. If you're asking about the number of completed single past actions, which your use of the verb 'sign' suggests you are, then no the continuous does not work. Refer back to post #2.

How many clients have you signed over the last few months?

It seems clear to me from the context that this is what you mean. The question is about the listener's recent accomplishments.

 

[no_duality]

A sentence 'works' if it effectively expresses what the speaker means. If you're asking about the number of completed single past actions, which your use of the verb 'sign' suggests you are, then no the continuous does not work. Refer back to post #2.

How many clients have you signed over the last few months?

It seems clear to me from the context that this is what you mean. The question is about the listener's recent accomplishments.

This sentence is from an answer I received on English Stack Exchange where I'm asking the same I'm asking here. It was suggested by a native English speaker instead of the AI-generated sentence that I cited in my initial question (“How many clients have you been signing this month?”); another native English speaker made a comment, elucidating that "the "have you signed" version suggests a request for a count while the "have you been signing" version suggests a request for a rate (as in clients per day, per week, whatever)".

Could you provide a few 'working' examples of questions that combine "How many ..." with the perfect continuous forms? Is this pattern common at all?

 

[jutfrank]

Anna: Brian, there's something I must confess. For the past fifteen years now I've been sleeping with ... other men.
Brian: Other ... men? How many other men have you been sleeping with exactly?
Anna: Eight.

Anna chooses the continuous aspect to show that this is ongoing behaviour over a period of time. She's not thinking about the number of times any particular action occurred and Brian's question here concerns the number of men, not the number of any particular actions on Anna's part.

Present perfect continuous sentences are always about the repeated or continuous nature of actions within a time frame, not on the number of times that actions occur. That's why they so commonly feature durative question phrases like 'how long?' or 'for how many months?' but don't feature 'how many times'. When the focus is on the number of times an action has been completed, we show that with the present perfect simple:

Brian: Eight different men? Over a period of fifteen years? So how many times in all have you cheated on me?
Anna: I've cheated on you 5,625 times if my calculations are right.

In this part of the dialogue the focus is on the number of accomplished, completed, single acts of infidelity, thus Brian chooses the present perfect simple.

 

[no_duality]

Anna: Brian, there's something I must confess. For the past fifteen years now I've been sleeping with ... other men.
Brian: Other ... men? How many other men have you been sleeping with exactly?
Anna: Eight.

Anna chooses the continuous aspect to show that this is ongoing behaviour over a period of time. She's not thinking about the number of times any particular action occurred and Brian's question here concerns the number of men, not the number of any particular actions on Anna's part.

Present perfect continuous sentences are always about the repeated or continuous nature of actions within a time frame, not on the number of times that actions occur. That's why they so commonly feature durative question phrases like 'how long?' or 'for how many months?' but don't feature 'how many times'. When the focus is on the number of times an action has been completed, we show that with the present perfect simple:

Brian: Eight different men? Over a period of fifteen years? So how many times in all have you cheated on me?
Anna: I've cheated on you 5,625 times if my calculations are right.

In this part of the dialogue the focus is on the number of accomplished, completed, single acts of infidelity, thus Brian chooses the present perfect simple.

Can I say: “How many men had she been sleeping with before her husband got suspicious and had her followed?’”?