Present perfect and present perfect progressive | TeachingEnglish | British Council

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Present perfect and present perfect progressive

Submitted by sue doh on 9 March, 2009 - 11:21

Does anyone have a simple way of explaining, when the preesnt perfect and when the present perfect progressive/ continuous are used.e.g

my mum has been a teacher for years present perfect

my mum has been teaaching for years present perfect continuous/progressive

Why the need for the two tenses? What different information is the one conveying that the other is not? They both refer to an action in the past which up until now is not finished.

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amazinanian

Dear

Submitted on 9 March, 2009 - 12:46

Dear Sue,

Though there are times when using both tenses is correct but there is a little difference in their correct usage.
When we want to emphasize the action, we use present perfect continuous like this example:

I have been standing here for a long time and the bus has not come yet. Here I want to emphasize the action of standing but when we are interested in the result of the action, we use the present perfect e.g.:

All the letters has been typed or the secretary has typed all the letters. Here finishing the job is more important than the time or duration of typing.

Many thanks and best wishes

Ail asghar Mazinanian

Shahrood, Iran.

Tricia Priestley

present perfect and present perfect continuous

Submitted on 14 March, 2009 - 15:34

I think in the example you give you can distinguish between the status of your mother - a teacher - and the work she has been doing - teaching .

The present perfect example says that she has been a teacher for years, but does not say she has been working continuously ( which in the case of a recommendation for work could make a massive difference). The second example states that she has been working continuously - an example of her action and not her status.

In another two examples - ' He has been a writer for years' - or 'He has been writing for years' - gives a distinction between the status of writer and the action of writing, which is really crucial and a subtlety of English that seems to be important.

These examples are not the only use of the present perfect - look, for instance at-

'I have eaten a bag of crisps' and ' I have been eating a bag of crisps'; or 'I have done my homework' and ' I have been doing my homework'; in both cases the first is about finishing an action related to an object - homework - and the second is about the continuous action (leading up to the present) of doing the homework but not necessarily finishing it.

Does this help at all?

Tricia Priestley