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StepOnMe Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Perfect Progressives Help!

1.) I have been looking for you
2.) I had been looking for you
3.) I shall have been looking for you

What are the differences? Can you please explain each of them to me? ( I do not get the "time" )

I know that
  1. progressive form starts from a certain time (past, present, future) and continues (right?).
  2. past perfect expresses action that was completed before a certain time in the past
  3. present perfect expresses action completed in the present ( It also expresses action from a period of time carried up to the present right????)
  4. future perfect shows action that will be completed before a certain time in the future
However, I do not get the perfect progressives!

Thanks in advance!!!

~StepOnMe
  

Top answer

) I have been looking for you I see my lost little boy. I say, "Tommy, where have you been. " Present perfect progressive is very common.

— AlpheccaStars

  • ) I have been looking for you I see my lost little boy.
  • I say, "Tommy, where have you been.
  • " Present perfect progressive is very common.
  • I tell my husband that evening.
  • "Tommy got lost today.
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5 Answers
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StepOnMe1.) I have been looking for you
I see my lost little boy. I say, "Tommy, where have you been. I have been looking for you for three hours!"
Present perfect progressive is very common.

I tell my husband that evening. "Tommy got lost today. I had been looking for him for three hours, when suddenly he showed up."

I did not see my li
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First of all, let's clear up some of your other statements.
Past progressive is usually used for an action that was in the process when another happened in the past
I was watching TV when the phone rang

Now with the perfect tense there are a few ways we can use it, but for your sentences, we are using it with something that began in the past to the present
I have been sick for
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When you said:
"Now with the perfect tense there are a few ways we can use it, but for your sentences, we are using it with something that began in the past to the present"

Do you mean from the past and it is still going on? Or it ended in the present?
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When you said:

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Do you want to help other people? We are happy to have you answer questions posted in our forums if you are polite and if you t
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.
Symbols:
X = the present moment; when you say the sentence.
- - - - the action of looking (for you)
P = some past time reference before which the action was taking place
F = some future time reference before which the action was taking place

1.) I have been looking for you. (until now)

........ - - - - - - - - - - - X............................

2.
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