I haven't done/been doing it for a very long time

[Glizdka]

How do you interpret these two sentences?

A) I haven't done it for a very long time.
B) I haven't been doing it for a very long time.

Let's put these in this dialogue:

1: What's your hobby?
2: Um... I'd say skateboarding.
1: Skateboarding? What's the nastiest injury you've had?
2: Well, I haven't done/been doing it for a very long time, but probably the worst one, I think, was when I fell off the board and broke my knee when I landed on the curb.

To me, A sounds like the person's saying they've had a very long break, so they don't really remember much and can't tell for sure which one's the worst. B, on the other hand, sounds like the person's saying it's a recently picked up hobby, so they haven't really had much time doing it and haven't had many gruesomely severe injuries to choose from.

 

[Piscean]

To me, A sounds like the person's saying they've had a very long break,

I agree.

so they don't really remember much and can't tell for sure which one's the worst.

I think you are reading too much into those words. Context and co-text convey that message.

B, on the other hand, sounds like the person's saying it's a recently picked up hobby,

I agree, though I would shorten 'a very long time' to 'very long'.

so they haven't really had much time doing it and haven't had many gruesomely severe injuries to choose from.

Once again, I think you are reading too much into those words. Context and co-text convey that message.

 

[jutfrank]

I agree with your interpretation of B, but I presume you realise it's ambiguous, due mostly I think to the time phrase 'for a very long time', which doesn't work well with your interpretation. Instead, we'd use 'for long':

I haven't been doing it for (very) long.

This is not at all ambiguous.

I haven't been doing it for a (very) long time.

This could mean that the last time you did it regularly was a (very) long time ago.

 

[Glizdka]

What if I change the time phrase in both A and B?

C: I haven't done it for very long.
D: I haven't been doing it for very long.

How does your interpretation change then?

 

[emsr2d2]

I can't think of a natural context for sentence C.
Sentence D would mean that you started doing something just a short time ago (and continue to do it).

 

[Annabel Lee]

A) I haven't done it for a very long time.
B) I haven't been doing it for a very long time.

With "for," there is technically ambiguity in both sentences, thought the context would doubtless remove it. So far, it's been assumed that the meaning has to do with the persistence of the non-doing of the thing, the time elapse between the last time the speaker has done it (or has been doing it) and now.

The other interpretation is that they are talking about the speaker's not having done (or not having been doing) the action in such a way that the action lasts for a very long time. Suppose the "it" is swimming in the ocean, in a place where the ocean is chilly.

I haven't swum in the ocean for a very long time; I think my longest time is about 20 minutes.​

I haven't been swimming in the ocean for a very long time; I can't stand it after about 20 minutes. ​

For me, that alternative meaning would disappear if "for a very long time" were changed to "in a very long time":

A') I haven't done it in a long time.​

​

Sentence (B), however, sounds pretty bad to me with "in": ?? I haven't been doing it in a very long time.