We've worked together for ten years

[Nightmare85]

Hello friends,
Months ago I learned some differences between the Present Perfect Progressive and the Present Perfect Simple.
The first one is used when you talk about the duration and the second one when you talk about results.
(Of course this "definition" is not the ultimate one, though...)
I: We've been friends for five years. -> how long
II: We've watched 10 movies together. -> how many times

On a TV show (The Simpsons - what else? :-D) I heard the following sentence:
We've worked together for ten years.

I don't understand why he doesn't say:
We've been working together for ten years.

They still work together and he doesn't really talk about any results.
I would have understood it if the sentence had been:
We've worked together on 10 movies.
This would make sense to me.

Here is the original clip (22 seconds.):
YouTube - we've worked together

Cheers!

 

[bhaisahab]

On a TV show (The Simpsons - what else? :-D) I heard the following sentence:
We've worked together for ten years.

I don't understand why he doesn't say:
We've been working together for ten years.
Both of the above are correct, the second one could indicate that the period of working together is coming to an end, but they could be used interchangeably in everyday English.

 

[corum]

We've worked together for ten years.
We've been working together for ten years.

There are two things that come into my mind regarding their differences:

1. possible incompleteness with the perfect progressive, and
2. habit (recurrent events) in a period leading up to the present, as opposed to a continuous uninterrupted action.



Because of the relatively big time span (10 years), #2 does not really apply to your sentences.

 

[Nightmare85]

Thanks for your replies.

corum, I've just looked at your image, but I'll look at it tomorrow again because I'll go out now.
(Birthday is coming ;-) )

Cheers!

 

[corum]

because I'll go out now.

(Birthday is coming ;-) )

 

[e2e4]

On a TV show (The Simpsons - what else? :-D) I heard the following sentence:
We've worked together for ten years.

I don't understand why he doesn't say:
We've been working together for ten years.

They still work together and he doesn't really talk about any results.
I would have understood it if the sentence had been:
We've worked together on 10 movies.
This would make sense to me.

Here is the original clip (22 seconds.):
YouTube - we've worked together

Cheers!

A learner's opinion.:x-mas:

In the clip, "We have worked together for ten years." is the correct.
Your proposal isn't.

 

[Rover_KE]

On a TV show (The Simpsons - what else? ) I heard the following sentence:
We've worked together for ten years.

Nightmare, the dialogue written by the scriptwriters reflects how ordinary people speak in daily life. It's not their job to educate students of English in the correct use of verb tenses.

Anyway, it sounds right to me.

Rover

 

[5jj]

A learner's opinion.:x-mas:
In the clip, "We have worked together for ten years." is the correct.
Your proposal isn't.

A retired teacher's opinion:
What bhaisahab said in post #2 is as true now as it was two and a half hours ago, and will continue to be true.

 

[corum]

a retarded student's opinion:

the second one could indicate that the period of working together is coming to an end,

And it can also indicate that our working together may continue well into the future. On the other hand, the present perfect could indicate too that our working together does not apply any longer.

 

[e2e4]

/A learner, and from the RS/

The fact has been given and nothing else.
He didn't explain how they have been working together.

We have worked together.
We have been working so hard together. (It's more likely to stop than continue)

 

[5jj]

We have been working so hard together. (It's more likely to stop than continue) Not necessarily.

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