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Hello everyone, and welcome back
to English with Lucy.
Today, I have got a
grammar lesson for you.
We are going to be looking
at two very similar and confusing tenses.
I know that a lot
of my students struggle with these.
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?
Today we are looking
at the present perfect,
and the present perfect continuous.
In some situations, they
mean the same thing,
and in other situations,
they mean different things.
There's a lot to cover in this lesson,
but I want to let you know
that to further help your understanding
and your learning journey,
I have created a free PDF
that goes with this lesson.
It's got everything we're going to cover,
and it's got a quiz
so you can check your understanding.
If you would like to receive
this PDF and quiz for free,
all you've got to do is click
on the link in the description box.
You enter your name
and your email address.
You sign up to my mailing list,
and I send the PDF and quiz
directly to your inbox.
And then, because you're signed up
to my mailing list, every week,
you will receive my lesson PDF and quiz,
as soon as it becomes available.
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,
before we start comparing them.
So the present perfect is,
have has plus the past participle.
I have worked.
The negative, have and has plus not
plus the past participle,
I have not worked.
And as a question, have or has,
plus the subject, plus
the past participle.
Have I worked? (laughing)
Now let's take a look
at how we form the present
perfect continuous.
The positive is, has or has,
plus been, plus verb ING.
I have been working.
The negative, we just put in a not.
Has or have not been verb ING.
I have not been working.
And as a question, we have has or have,
plus subject, plus been, plus verb ING.
Have I been working?
It's important to note
that we cannot use
the present perfect continuous
with stative verbs.
Stative verbs don't refer
to a physical action.
They express something that is permanent.
They express a state or a condition.
To like, to love, to believe,
to know, to understand.
You can say, I've known her for years.
You cannot say, I've been
knowing her for years.
You can say, I've been here for a while.
You cannot say, I've been
being here for a while.
Just so that's clear.
We can use the present perfect
and the present perfect continuous
to talk about actions,
unfinished actions that
started in the past,
and are still true now.
We often use them with since and for.
I have lived in England for three years.
I have been studying English since 2003.
I've been studying English since 2017.
Now, sometimes, especially
with the verbs study,
live, and work,
there is no real difference in meaning
between the two.
I've lived in England for three years,
I've been living in
England for three years,
they mean the same thing.
I've studied English since 2017,
I've been studying English since 2017.
Again, they mean the same thing.
She has worked here for six months.
She has been working here for six months.
Once again, they mean the same thing.
So I hope that clears
up some of your doubts.
Unfortunately, sometimes
there is a difference
in meaning between these two tenses,
the present perfect,
and the present perfect continuous.
I'm going to discuss four situations
where there is a difference in meaning.
Number one, the present perfect continuous
can be used to emphasise
the amount or length of
time that has passed.
Whereas the present perfect
is generally neutral.
It might sound complicated,
but take a look at these two sentences.
She's been working for hours.
She has worked for hours.
She's been working shows more emphasis
about the hours that have passed.
It's a very subtle
difference, but it's there.
The second situation,
the present perfect is commonly used
to talk about how much
or how many, but this is impossible
with the present perfect continuous.
Let me show you.
She has eaten three pieces
of toast this morning.
That sentence is perfectly fine.
Let's try it with the
present perfect continuous.
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.
I hope not. (laughing)
Poor guy.
You cannot say, he has
been drinking seven cups
of coffee this morning.
It has to be the present perfect
when talking about how much or how many.
Let's take a look at the third situation.
The present perfect
continuous often focuses
on the action itself.
Whereas the present perfect
focuses on the completion of the action.
Again, it's much easier
to see this written out,
than to listen to an explanation.
So I'll give you some examples.
Take a look at these two sentences.
I've been watching the TV
series you recommended.
I've watched the TV
series you recommended.
With the first one, I've been watching,
I'm showing that I am still watching it.
I haven't finished the action yet.
Whereas with the second one, I've watched,
I'm telling you that I
have finished watching it.
Sometimes it's not quite as obvious.
She's been seeing a therapist.
She's seen a therapist.
With she's been seeing,
it implies that her treatment is ongoing,
she's still seeing that therapist.
She's seen a therapist 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.
I know lots of you struggle
with for, since, yet, and already.
We've discussed for and since.
Now, yet and already.
I have seen the film already,
or I've already seen the film.
You can put already at the end,
or you can put it between have or has
and the participle.
I have already seen.
A common mistake that I hear
is I have seen already the film.
We would understand you,
but it doesn't quite sound right.
And yet, this goes at the end.
Have you seen the film yet?
No, I haven't seen it yet.
You can put yet between have has
and the participle.
I haven't yet seen it.
But it sounds quite old fashioned.
I haven't yet gone, I haven't yet seen it.
It sounds nice, it sounds very formal
and old fashioned.
Like you'd read in an old book.
In the question form,
it doesn't sound right at all.
Have you yet seen the film?
No, don't use that.
Sometimes we use the difference
between the present perfect
and the present perfect continuous
to talk about different kinds
of results in the present.
Again, it's much easier
to see this in an example,
so I will provide those.
I've done all of my chores
so I can come out tonight.
We use the present perfect
when the result comes
from the action being finished.
I can come out tonight
because I've finished my chores.
It's completed.
I've been doing my
chores, so I'm exhausted.
We use the present perfect continuous
when the result comes
from doing the action itself.
I am exhausted
from carrying out all of my chores.
Another example, I've
prepared a big dinner,
so you can come over.
I've been preparing a big dinner,
so all of my pans are dirty.
My pans are dirty as a
result of the preparation,
but you can come over
because I've finished
preparing the dinner.
In the first example,
with the present perfect,
you can come over,
because I've finished preparing my dinner.
In the second example,
with the present perfect continuous,
all of my pans are dirty,
because of the preparation of my dinner,
the action of doing it.
Finally, we can use
the present perfect continuous
to talk about situations
that aren't permanent.
Things that are not usual.
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.
I've been getting up early to work out.
I don't usually do this,
but recently, I have been doing this.
Right, that is the grammar explanation.
Those are the differences
between the present perfect
and the present perfect continuous.
Now it's time to check your understanding.
I have created a quiz.
It's in the PDF I've created
that covers everything in this lesson.
I know it's been a complicated lesson,
so I hope having some notes will help you.
If you'd like to download it for free,
just click on the link
in the description box,
enter your name and email address.
You sign up to my mailing list,
and I send it directly to your inbox.
And then after that, every week,
as soon as my lessons
and PDFs are available,
I'll send them straight to you.
Just a reminder,
if you want to improve
your listening skills
and your vocabulary skills,
I have a vlogging channel,
where I document my daily life
here on an English farm.
Every single vlog
is fully subtitled for your understanding,
so you can pick up lots
of new vocabulary words,
maybe watch it without subtitles,
see how much you understand,
and then review again with subtitles.
Use them however you wish.
Don't forget to connect
with me on social media.
I've got my Instagram, which is @Lucy,
and I've got my website,
englishwithlucy.co.uk,
where I have a fantastic
pronunciation tool.
I am still very excited by it.
You can click on words
containing those phonemes,
and hear me say them too.
Ee, no, er.
I will see you soon for another lesson.
Has or have, plus subject,
plus B. (laughing)
I'm struggling here.
We cannot use the present
perfect conditional.
Conditional, (chuckling) sorry.
We can use them with sinth.
Sinth?
Have I pronounced stative correctly?
Yeah, stative.
Look at me, doubting myself.
It's 'cause I'm scarred
with people calling me
out on the internet.
(sighing) Okay.
(upbeat music)
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About this lesson
Learn how to use the present perfect continuous to talk about actions that started in the past and continue now, or have a present result.