The tense is one of the most important grammar point in English. In fact, we have to say that without tenses, English is meaningless. Among 12 tenses in this global language, I sometimes confuse between the Present Perfect Tense and the Present Perfect Continuous one. They are similar in some way but also slightly different and easy to be misused.
The following information is retrieved from the book "Advanced Grammar in Use" (Martin, 2003)
Present Perfect Continuous vs Present Perfect:
In general, both of the two tenses mentioned above indicate " something that started in the past and which affects the situation that exists now." (Martin, 2003). They are also used to describe the repeat of events or activities. However there is some slightly differences in their meaning.
On one hand, "the Present Perfect Tense focuses on the effect of an activity or an event, or the fact that something has been achieved." (Martin, 2003). We also use this tense to emphasize the number of times that an activity takes place, and the result of a change.
On the other hand, the Present Perfect Continuous pays attention on "activities or events which may or may not be finished" (Martin, 2003). It is common to use this tense to emphasize activities which we have continued doing during a period of time. We also use the Present Perfect Continuous to describe the continuity of the change.
In brief, the Present Perfect focus on the achivement of an activity while the Present Perfect Continuous pay attention on an activity's continuity. And right choices of tenses can add significant meaning in our sentences.
Exercises: (Martin,2003)
1) Use these words to fill in the blank and pay attention to the usage of the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous tenses:
claim, disappear, give, move, stop
1. An important file ... from my office.
2. Dr Fletcher... the same lecture to students for the last ten years.
3. With thier win yesterday, Italy... into second place in the table.
4. For years he... that he is related to the royal family.
5. Good, the noise... , so I can start concentrating on my work again.
2) Connect the two clauses to complete these sentenses. Focus on the relationship between their meaning and the tense used in each clause:
a. I have swum...
I have been swimming...
...and I feel exhausted
...thirty lengths of the good.
b. I have visited Vienna....
I have been visited Vienna...
...three or four times before
...since 1990 and I have always felt very safe here.
References:
Martin. H (2003). Advanced Grammar in Use. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. (Ms Fong, I am so sorry that I do not know how to creat an indent in this blog for the reference. I will ask my classmate for it. Thanks)
Welcome on board EG1471, Groups E04 and E09
16 years ago
3 comments:
Ah, Mai, you are so hard-working!Your article is about three times longer than mine! I think I should spend more time in English now!
The content of your article is so rich that after reading your article, I have had a better undering of both tenses. I like the exercise part you had given.
Thank you so much,Shenyan,
Nothing can express my happiness when seeing your comment. All of my efforts are to improve my English. However, I still can not see any progress, so sometimes I wonder whether I do right.
Any way, thank you so much for your comments,
Wish you great success in you Midterm Tests.
ah Mai,i find you blog by chance.Wow it's really amazing.Since the last time we met,your English has been improved quickly.It's true,i don't overstate, i swear^_^.After three months,not a long time,my "big Mai" becomes more confident,more "master" than the one i knew.That you make a blog surprises me a lot.Don't worry,i think you are making progress well.Hey,do you know who i am?Guess who (i will give you a suggestion: well, how long does it take you to get signatures for me? I am still waiting.)Actually,i want to give you a Vietnamese comment but it seems not to suitable for your blog,thus i try to make an English one.Miss you.
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