[Grammar] I have been living

[gurpreetgill4u]

I was born in India and I have been living here since.
I was born in India and I have lived here since.
I was born in India and I have been living here for 17 years
I was born in India and I have lived here for 17 years.

Which one works the best?


Thanks for help.

 

[tkacka15]

The second sentence and the fourth one .

 

[MikeNewYork]

For me, all four are possible.

 

[Barb_D]

Yes, I agree that all are possible, but unless someone knows you are 17 years old, the last two may be confusing. "Oh, did you move away and move back?"

I was born in India and have lived here all of my 17 years.

 

[MikeNewYork]

Good point, Barb.

 

[Rover_KE]

I don't like any of them.

I'd use Barb's version or say

'I was born in India (17 years ago) and I have lived here ever since'. (The bracketed words are optional.)

 

[TheParser]

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Hello, Gurpreetgill4u:

I was just wondering whether you have had a chance to read Michael Swan's Practical English Usage, which is respected by many students (and teachers).

He gives these two examples:

1. "I've been living in Sue's flat for the last month."
2. "My parents have lived in Bristol all their lives."

Mr. Swan says "We often prefer the present perfect progressive to talk about more temporary actions and situations; when we talk about longer-lasting or permanent situations we often prefer the simple present perfect."

I cannot speak for anyone else, but I really like his opinion. Therefore, I would say: "I have lived in Los Angeles since the 1940s."

On the other hand, if I were talking about Mona, who comes from Europe and is currently studying at a university here in Los Angeles, I would say: "Mona has been living in Los Angeles for four years and plans to return to Europe as soon as she graduates."

Credit: I have the 1995 edition of Mr. Swan's book, which was published by the Oxford University Press. The information is found in entry (NOT page) 420.6.

 

[gurpreetgill4u]

Yes ,The parser ,I have read that book.
I am confused because in some places we use "have been doing" for centuries.
For example :Mankind have been killing animals for centuries.
Sometimes It is really hard to get speaker's perspective.

I guess here speaker is comparing how long have mankind been on this planet with how long mankind have been killing animals which certainly makes it temporary.

So do we call a situation temporary based on the time duration or speaker's perspective?

 

[engee30]

NOT A TEACHER

When I was teaching English back in the day, I would tell my students that the present perfect simple was used when the meaning was stative. So in this particular case, I would've advised them to say:
'...have lived here (ever) since.'
I'm not saying the present perfect progressive is wrong - it's fine, but I feel the simple tense will suffice.

The worst bit I felt was to then exlain to them what 'stative' meant...

 

[Matthew Wai]

I think the following can be an alternative, but I am not a teacher.
'Since I was born in India, I have been living here for 17 years.'

 

[tedmc]

I think the following can be an alternative, but I am not a teacher.
'Since I was born in India, I have been living here for 17 years.'

I feel this is not natural. "Since" tend to mean "because" to me.

How about: I have lived all my life in India.

 

[Matthew Wai]

"Since" tend to mean "because" to me.

I think it evidently doesn't mean so in this context, but I am not a teacher.

 

[tkacka15]

The progressive/continuous aspect almost always draws attention to the limited duration of a situation. Depending on the context, either the limitedness or the duration may be the point that the speaker wishes to draw attention to. In your sentence, it's the duration.

I understand the above comment this way:

I have lived in Berlin for a year. (It means rather a permanent situation; I've settled in Berlin for good.)
I have been living in Berlin for a year. (It means that I'm in a temporary stay there, for example being on business, and after some time I return to my home country.)

Am I right?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I have lived in Berlin for a year. (It means rather a permanent situation; I've settled in Berlin for good.)

I think it could be said when the speaker is on a plane flying to where s/he used to live, i.e. s/he is leaving Berlin, but I am not a teacher.