I have seen vs. I have been seeying
Does a) mean that I haven't seen John for a long time in the past but now I have seen him?
Does b) mean that I haven't seen John for a long time and now I still haven't seen him? Is it correct to use the present perfect continuous in this case?
Top answer
Sentence a) means you haven't seen John in a long time (you and John were not particularly close). Sentence b) is awkward-sounding (the phrase "for ages" would not be used in this situation), but as it stands, it would be interpreted as: I used to see John all the time (we used to be close), but then I stopped seeing him a while ago. This would be better stated, for example, as: I stopped seeing John a while ago, although I still think of him.
- Sentence a) means you haven't seen John in a long time (you and John were not particularly close).
- Sentence b) is awkward-sounding (the phrase "for ages" would not be used in this situation), but as it stands, it would be interpreted as: I used to see John all the time (we used to be close), but then I stopped seeing him a while ago.
- This would be better stated, for example, as: I stopped seeing John a while ago, although I still think of him.
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Sentence a) means you haven't seen John in a long time (you and John were not particularly close).
Sentence b) is awkward-sounding (the phrase "for ages" would not be used in this situation), but as it stands, it would be interpreted as: I used to see John all the time (we used to be close), but then I stopped seeing him a while ago. This would be better stated, for example, as:
0This one is a little tricky...
"I haven't seen John in ages." This sentence means that you saw John a long time ago, and you haven't seen him since. (In other words, you still haven't seen him.) But if you just saw John for the first time after having not seen him in a long time -- maybe at a party and you're still at the party where John is -- you might turn to a friend and say this sen
0#1 is straightforward - the speaker last saw John a long time ago. The act of seeing might have been brief or might have been longer:
I haven't seen John since I bumped into him in Wenceslas Square a couple of years ago.
I haven't seen John since our sailing holiday in the Med in 2015.
2. 'See' in the progressive aspect usually implies 'have some sort of relat
0
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