Present perfect vs present perfect continuous
Take a look at these two sentences.
“I have lived in England for three years”.
“I have been living in England for three years”.
Do they mean the same thing? In some situations, they mean the same thing and in other situations they means different things.
We use. The present perfect and the present perfect continuous for both finished and unfinished actions. Let's take a quick look at how we form them both before we start comparing them.
The present perfect
Positive
have/has + past participle } I have eaten / she has not eaten
Negative
have/has + not + past participle } I have not eaten / he has not eaten
Question
have/has + subject + past participle } have they not eaten? / has she not eaten?
The present perfect continuous.
Positive
have/has + been + verb–ing } I have been sleeping / she has been sleeping
Negative
have/has + not + been + verb–ing } I have not been sleeping / he has not been sleeping
Question
have/has + subject + been + verb–ing } have we not been exercising? / has she not been exercising?
It's important to note that we cannot use the present perfect continuous with stative verbs.
Stative verbs
Stative verbs do not refer to a physical action. Stative verbs express something that is permanent. They express a state or a condition.
Example
to love
to believe
to know
to understand.
You can say:
“I've known her for years”. (Correct)
You cannot say:
“I've been knowing her for years”. (Incorrect)
You can say:
“I've been here for a while”. (Correct)
You cannot say:
“I've been being here for a while”. (incorrect)
Back to the present perfect and the present perfect continuous
We use them to talk about:
Unfinished actions (that started in the past and are still true now).
We often use them with:
‘Since’ and ‘for’.
Example
“I have lived in England for three years”.
“I have been studying English since 2003”.
“I've been studying English since 2017”.
Sometimes, especially with the verbs study, live and work, there is no real difference in meaning between the two tenses (the present perfect aand the present perfect continuous).
Example
“I've lived in England for three years”.
“I've been living in England for three years”.
They mean the same thing.
Example
“I've studied English since 2017”.
“I've been studying English since 2017”.
“She has worked here for six months”.
“She has been working here for six months”.
However
Unfortunately, sometimes there is a difference in meaning between these two tenses (the present perfect and the present perfect continuous”. Here are four differences between them.
#1.
The present perfect continuous can be used to emphasise the amount or length of time that has passed. The present perfect is generally neutral. Take a look at the two sentences below.
“She's been working for hours”. (Present perfect continuous)
“She has worked for hours”. (Present perfect)
“She's been working”, shows more emphasis about the hours that have passed.
#2.
The present perfect, is commonly used to talk about how much or how many, but this is impossible with the present perfect continuous.
Example
“She has eaten (three pieces) of toast this morning”. This sentence is perfectly fine.
Let's try it with the present perfect continuous.
Example
“She has been eating (three pieces) of toast this morning”. It doesn't work. You can't use it. “He's drunk (seven) cups of coffee this morning”. It works. You can us it.
You cannot say:
“He has been drinking (seven) cups of coffee this morning”. It has to be the present perfect.
#3.
The present perfect continuous often focuses on the action itself. Whereas the present perfect focuses on the completion of the action. Take a look at these two sentences below.
“I've been watching the TV series you recommended”. (Present perfect continuous)
“I've watched the TV series you recommended”. (Present perfect)
With the first sentence (present perfect continuous) – “I've been watching” – I'm showing that I am still watching it. I haven't finished the action yet. In the second sentence (present perfect) – “I've watched” – I'm telling you that I have finished watching it.
Sometimes it's not quite as obvious.
Example
“She's been seeing a therapist”. (Present perfect continuous)
“She's seen a therapist”. (Present perfect)
The first example implies that her treatment is ongoing. She's still seeing that therapist.
The second example means she seen one and now she may have stopped seeing one or her treatment has ended.
Another thing to note is that with the present perfect, we can use ‘yet’ and ‘already’. You can put ‘already’ at the end, or you can put it between have or has and the participle.
Already
Example
“I have (already) seen the movie”.
Below, is a very common mistake.
“I have seen (already) the film”. (Incorrect) – already should go between ‘have’ & ‘seen’.
Yet
‘Yet’ goes at the end.
Example
“Have you seen the film (yet)?”.
“No, I haven't seen it (yet)”.
You can put ‘yet’ between ‘have’ and ‘has’ and the participle, but it sounds old-fashioned.
Example
“I haven't (yet) seen it”. (Correct)
“I haven't (yet) gone”. (Correct)
In the first example, it sounds nice. It sounds very formal and old fashioned, like you'd read in an old book, but in the question form, it doesn't sound right at all.
Example
“So have you (yet) seen the film?”. (Incorrect) – don’t do this in the question form.
Sometimes we use the present perfect and the present perfect continuous to talk about different kinds of results in the present.
Example
“I've done all of my chores / so I can come out tonight”.
We use the present perfect (I’ve done all of my chores) when the result (so I can come out tonight) comes from the action being finished.
Example
“I can come out tonight / because I've finished my chores”.
Your chores are completed. ‘Going out tonight’ is the result.
#4.
We can use the present perfect continuous to talk about situations that aren't permanent, or things that aren’t usual.
Example
“I've been sleeping badly. I don't normally sleep badly, but recently I've been sleeping badly”.
“Normally I buy lunch at the canteen, but I've been bringing lunch from home these days”.
“I've been getting up early to workout. I don't usually do that, but recently I have been doing it”
