have used or have been using

[Mskacang]

There are two sentences:

How long have you used this book?
How long have you been using this book?

The task is to choose the correct one (no context is given). To my mind both could be equally correct. But the anwer key says the first one is OK. Could you explain me why? If both are correct, could you also give me the context I could use the first and the second one in?

Thank you in advance.

[Yankee]

Hi Mskacang

There really isn't a lot of difference between them. I suppose the first one is more suggestive of individual and/or intermittent usages up to now, while the second one is a little bit more suggestive of a single, on-going usage. But this really is not an absolute difference.

For example, perhaps English 101 is a class that is offered every semester at a particular school. And perhaps there is a particular teacher who has taught English 101 for years. I might ask "how long have you used that book" if I basically wanted to know "how many semesters". In other words, "How many individual semesters/courses have you used that book for?"

On the other hand, if I knew that a teacher had started a course using Book A, and today I notice that the teacher is now using Book B for that course instead, I might ask "how long have you been using that book" (i.e. how long during this one particular course).

That's the basic difference I sense. However, I think those two particular sentences would be interchangeable in most contexts.
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Minh]

Hi Amy,

Amy wrote:

[Yankee]

Hi Mihn

Yes, the question would be about "Book B" in my example.
.
_________________
"Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." ~ Abraham Lincoln

[Yankee]

[Masaniparesh]

I dont think these two statements can be interchangeble. If you know that foo has stoped using X book then you can use:

How long have you used this book?

but if foo still using that book then you can use:

How long have you been using this book?

Regards,
Paresh

[Torsten]

Hi Paresh,

Can you please tell me what the following words you mean -- you used them in your post and none of them exist in the English language: "dont", "interchangeble", "foo", "stoped"?

TOEIC short conversations: Customer calls to cancel cable TV subscription

[Mskacang]

Dear Amy

Thanks a lot for your promt help.

Have a nice day!

Krisztina

[Masaniparesh]

Hmmm....
"dont"=don't
"interchangeble" = interchangeable
"foo" is a general word. I have used it here for some person's reference.
"stoped" = "stopped"

I think, I need to start using english dictionary. :-)

[Yankee]

[Torsten]

[Masaniparesh]

>> How long did you use this book?
I am totally agree with you Amy.

Thanks for explanation.
Paresh