Verona_82
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Hello,
I'm aware of the implications of progressive and simple aspects, but my knowledge seems to become shaky when it comes to using present perfect simple/progressive to describe a permanent action. Grammars differ on this question. Some verbs such as 'work' and 'live' can be used with either tense, but I'm not sure how many other verbs that 'guideline' can be extended to. I've made up some sentences and commented on them; I'd appreciate it if somebody had a look at them.
1 (a) The company has been making computers for over 50 years.
(b) The company has made computers for over 50 years.
I feel (a) is as common as (b).
2 (a) I've been driving for ages.
(b) I've driven for ages.
It seems to me (a) is more common than (b).
3. (a) I've been drinking black coffee all my life.
(b) I've drunk black coffee all my life.
(a) seems far better to me, however, I'm not certain a native speaker feels the same. :-?
Thank you.
I'm aware of the implications of progressive and simple aspects, but my knowledge seems to become shaky when it comes to using present perfect simple/progressive to describe a permanent action. Grammars differ on this question. Some verbs such as 'work' and 'live' can be used with either tense, but I'm not sure how many other verbs that 'guideline' can be extended to. I've made up some sentences and commented on them; I'd appreciate it if somebody had a look at them.
1 (a) The company has been making computers for over 50 years.
(b) The company has made computers for over 50 years.
I feel (a) is as common as (b).
2 (a) I've been driving for ages.
(b) I've driven for ages.
It seems to me (a) is more common than (b).
3. (a) I've been drinking black coffee all my life.
(b) I've drunk black coffee all my life.
(a) seems far better to me, however, I'm not certain a native speaker feels the same. :-?
Thank you.