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Anonymous Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

perfect continuous ing form

Is it correct to say "after having been working for 35 years, he decided to quit his job"? One of my students is saying that we cannot use the perfect continuous with -ing forms.
  

Top answer

Anonymous we cannot use the perfect continuous with -ing forms. This is a strange comment because all continuous forms contain an -ing form. It's the very definition of "continuous tense".

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous we cannot use the perfect continuous with -ing forms.
  • This is a strange comment because all continuous forms contain an -ing form.
  • It's the very definition of "continuous tense".
  • That aside, after having been working for 35 years may be theoretically possible, but it is extremely awkward.
  • Use either after having worked for 35 years or after working for 35 years instead.
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2 Answers
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Anonymouswe cannot use the perfect continuous with -ing forms.
This is a strange comment because all continuous forms contain an -ing form. It's the very definition of "continuous tense".

That aside, after having been working for 35 years may be theoretically possible, but it is extremely awkward. Use either after having worked for
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Hi,

That is a tough one however I think it would be acceptable (despite being classed as a grey area in language). Because the word 'working' is a verb, it is ok to have to have 'having' and 'working' next to each other since they do not technically conflict a lot.
My recommendation would be to change it to 'after having been at work for 35 years' although this could imply he has been
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