Present perfect and present perfect progressive

[Nicholas]

Hi teachers,

I have two sentences I misunderstand.

1. He has been drinking too much lately. (Can i use present perfect)?)

2. She has read 20 pages so far. (Can i use present perfect progressive?)

Oh, anyway, are these two sentences correct? I have been bothered too much if they are correct sentences. At the same time, could you give some light on the differences between present perfect and present perfect progressive?

3. I'd like to come to dinner, but...........football so i need to have a bath and wash my hair before I come out again. Shall I meet you in two hours at your place?
Answers: a. I've played b. I've been playing..

I chose 'a' but it was wrong...is it possible if we can use 'both'?

Thank you.
_________________
Nicholas

[Mister Micawber]

.
1. He has been drinking too much lately. (Can i use present perfect?) -- Yes, but the meaning changes. Progressive indicates an ongoing recent habit; present perfect indicates a recent but completed fact. The speaker's point is that it is a continuing problem.

2. She has read 20 pages so far. (Can i use present perfect progressive?)-- No. So far indicates that the task has been completed (see #1), and that is the speaker's point.

3. I'd like to come to dinner, but...........football so i need to have a bath and wash my hair before I come out again. Shall I meet you in two hours at your place? Answers: a. I've played b. I've been playing..

I chose 'a' but it was wrong...is it possible if we can use 'both'?-- It is possible, but not natural. The speaker wishes to indicate his current condition. Sometimes it is difficult to decide on perfect vs perfect progressive, but the progressive will in some way always refer more to 'now'.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Lost_Soul]

Yeah, the choise between the Present Perfect and the Present Perfect Continuous might be tricky at times.
Another example:
The ground is moist - it has been raining all night ! (despite the fact that it is not raining, we still use the present perfect continuous).
I took this example from my textbook

[Mister Micawber]

.
Bad textbook.

No-- I change my opinion. The point is that (presumably) the night hasn't finished, though the rain may have stopped for the moment.
.
_________________
Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mr. Micawber

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, MM

What if we don't specify the moment/time span when/during which it was raining.
Eg, "The weather is sunny but the streets are extremelly wet. I has been raining".

In this case it doesn't matter when it was raining, does it? The thing that matters is that the streets are moist because of the rain, isn't it?

Thanks !

[Zhani]

The main differences between the two tenses are:
With the Present Perfect you say how many or how much you have done of something - I have read 20 pages of the book so far. The result is more important!
With Present Perfect Progressive you say how long you have been doing something - I have been reading for hours - the duration is more important! It is a mistake if you don't use them in this way!
Another difference - when there is still evidence what has been going on you use only Present Perfect Progressive - the road is wet because it has been raining.
It smells deliciuos because your mom has been cooking a cake.
The room is in a mess because you have been fighting.
The action may have just finished but there's EVIDENCE.

[Alan]

Hi LS,

The point of using the continuous form is to show the reality of the action before your own eyes. 'It has been raining all night' to me suggests that the speaker concludes it must have rained all night because he can see evidence of the rain for himself and also (and this is of course conjecture) he was aware that it was raining at some earlier stage in the night.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Have a Break!

[Zhani]

That's right Alan - we've submitted our posts at the same time

[Alan]

And from a previous post:

The present perfect simple refers to the past but without saying when the action actually took place. In this sentence: 'I read twenty pages last night' we use the past simple because we know exactly when the action was completed. In this sentence: 'I have read twenty pages (so far)' indicates that 20 pages were read from some indefinite time in the past up till now. You would not use the continuous form here because the reading has now stopped. In your first sentence: 'He has been drinking too much lately' the suggestion is that he is continuing to do so. 'He has drunk too much lately' would mean that he isn't continuing to do so as I speak.

In your third sentence I would suggest the continuous form because the inference is that although he isn't actually playing football as he speaks, he is really saying: I'd very much like to come to dinner but as you can see I'm rather dirty and muddy at the moment because I have been playing football.

I always refer to the present perfect continuous as the 'umbrella' tense because it covers three times - the past , the present and it points towards the future.

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Book Expressions