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Toderesa97 Posted 9 years ago
Grammar

Present perfect continuos and Present perfect

Hello,

I'm actually practicing with some grammar exercises, specifically, Present perfect continuous and Present perfect. My doubt is about a sentence:

It's remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza (1) .......... (claim) more than 50,000 lives in this country, and in 1957 alone around (...)

Quotation: 'Advanced Grammar in Use' from Martin Hewings (Second Edition)

The solution that the book provides me is:

has claimed

I'm not doubting about it, but I want to ask why, because of, a part of the theory reads:

We use the present perfect continuous to express the idea of an activity (a task, piece of work, etc.) in progress until recently or until the time of speaking (...)

So... the question would be: based on that definition, why can't I write (or why does the book consider as unique solution 'has claimed' for that gap? ) 'has been claiming' ? Is an action that is happening until nowadays.


Thomas DRS

  

Top answer

You can't say It's remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza has been claiming more than 50,000 lives in this country . . because eg it wasn't claiming more than 50,000 lives in 1950 or 1951 or 1952 or 1953, etc.

— Clive

  • You can't say It's remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza has been claiming more than 50,000 lives in this country .
  • .
  • because eg it wasn't claiming more than 50,000 lives in 1950 or 1951 or 1952 or 1953, etc.
  • The Continuous tense makes it sound like a repeated activity, yet that is clearly not the intended meaning.
  • However, you can say It's remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza has been claiming lives in this country .
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1 Answers
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You can't say

It's remarkable to think that since 1950 influenza has been claiming more than 50,000 lives in this country . . .

because eg it wasn't claiming more than 50,000 lives in 1950 or 1951 or 1952 or 1953, etc.

The Continuous tense makes it sound like a repeated activity, yet that is clearly not the intended meaning.


However, you can say

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