Present perfect continuous

Question

Let's say I just came at a party and heard a conversation between two girls. One of 'em said "I've been trying to do it.". I wouldn't understand if she was still trying or not.
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I have always loved you. - I have always thought this means that I still love you. Am I right?
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I've been trying really hard to do it.
I'm trying really hard to do it.

Could I use either one if I were still trying to do it? If so, which one is better?

What do I do when it comes time to decide between present perfect continuous and present continuous as in the examples above?

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I've got to make sure. Do native speakers really not thing about the future when someone uses "I have been + verb + ing."? That's REALLY strange. Will context tell me if someone is still trying/doing/thinking etc?

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Are you gettin' enough sleep? - Does this mean something like: Are you gettin' enough sleep these days/lately?

I'm having way too much fun with you and Elena here. - When the speaker uttered the sentence, he had been in town for like three days or so. Why did he use "I'm having"?
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I'm reading a really good book these days/lately.
I have been reading a really good book these days/lately.

Which tense is better with these days/lately? Present perfect continuous or present continuous and why? I don't know why, but I'd use present perfect continuous. It may be because it sounds better. I don't know why, though.
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He looks as if he's having fun. - Right now. This version is the standard one in BrE and all of my friends use it. I do, too. I was told that this version was substandard in AmE. So, my question is, can I continue using it even though it's a substandard version?

He looks as if he was having fun. - This sounds wrong to me. I would never use this one because the "looks" in the sentence does not match the second part of the sentence. And by doesn't match I mean the tenses.

He looked as if he was having fun. - I'd use this one if I were talking about the past. Am I right?

What tense is the best after "as if"? I've looked it up in lots of online guides and all of them have given me different definitions. A native speaker whose native language is BrE told me that this was the area in English language that was changing and that might be the reason why lots of people have different opinions on it.

Faximili · Accepted Answer

Let's say I just came at a party and heard a conversation between two girls. One of 'em said "I've been trying to do it.". I wouldn't understand if she was still trying or not.

She's still trying. As a result, this often means "I'm trying and having difficulty." "We're trying to have a baby," often means we're having difficulty conceiving. "We're trying to write a song," means we're having trouble finishing it.

I have always loved you. - I have always thought this means that I still love you. Am I right?

Yes. This sounds very melodramatic, though, and I wouldn't use it in conversations unless candles and wine were involved. "Always" in a sentence about love or wishing or wanting generally makes it sound wistful. "I've always wanted to be in a band," sounds almost a little sad, because I never got to be. Similarly, I might say "I've always loved you" to someone with whom I couldn't have a relationship.

I've been trying really hard to do it.
I'm trying really hard to do it.

Could I use either one if I were still trying to do it? If so, which one is better?

Yes, both sound natural. "I've been trying" sounds a little more like you're having trouble and maybe thinking about giving up. If I was your professor and you came to my office and said "I've been trying really hard to do the homework..." I would expect the next words out of your mouth to be "...but can you show me how?" Whereas if you said "I'm trying really hard to do it..." I would expect the next words out of your mouth to be "...but I can't quite figure out this one small detail, could you give me a hint?" This is a very subtle distinction, though, and either would be fine.

What do I do when it comes time to decide between present perfect continuous and present continuous as in the examples above?

The difference is very subtle and generally doesn't matter. Again, "been" may sometimes indicate more difficulty, or that you're thinking about stopping. It can also indicate that this has been going on for longer, "I've been dieting for three months now, but I haven't lost any weight!" vs "I was bad over the weekend, so I'm dieting this week."

I've got to make sure. Do native speakers really not thing about the future when someone uses "I have been + verb + ing."? That's REALLY strange. Will context tell me if someone is still trying/doing/thinking etc?

We really don't.

To my ear, "I have been," indicates something I'm doing to prepare for something else. I would generally only use it for something that's coming to an end either now or soon. "I've been saving up for the concert next weekend." "I've been working out to prepare for swimsuit weather." "I've been watching you for a while, and you look lost, so I thought I'd say hi."

Are you gettin' enough sleep? - Does this mean something like: Are you gettin' enough sleep these days/lately?

That sounds about right. I'd probably only say that if I meant pretty recently: "Oh man, you look terrible. Are you getting enough sleep?" If I meant more generally I'd probably say, "Are you getting enough sleep nowadays?" (Or "these days", or "lately")

I'm having way too much fun with you and Elena here. - When the speaker uttered the sentence, he had been in town for like three days or so. Why did he use "I'm having"?

As opposed to what? "I had way..." sounds like you're done having fun. "I have way..." sounds like a general statement ("I always have fun with you and Elena..."). "I'm having" makes it clear that the fun is ongoing.

I'm reading a really good book these days/lately.
I have been reading a really good book these days/lately.

Which tense is better with these days/lately? Present perfect continuous or present continuous and why? I don't know why, but I'd use present perfect continuous. It may be because it sounds better. I don't know why, though.

I generally wouldn't say either. "These days" makes it sound like I've been reading the same book for months and months, "lately" makes it sound like it's a passive accident that I'm reading (I might say, "I've been having headaches lately" or "My girlfriend's been distant lately," but I wouldn't say "I'm going to the gym lately").

In a sentence I ~~would~~ say:

"I'm not drinking as much these days" vs
"I haven't been drinking as much these days"

They're almost identical. Sentence one emphasizes that I'm actively choosing not to drink, while sentence two leaves room to wonder if maybe I'm just too busy to drink.

He looks as if he's having fun.

I'm American and that reads fine to me. Feels a little colloquial, so I might avoid it in a formal paper.

He looks as if he was having fun.

That reads incorrectly to me. Tenses do not agree.

He looked as if he was having fun.

Past tense, correct. Just the past tense version of the first sentence.

As for what's best, it's not a construction I would use very often in speaking. I'd say, "He looks like he's having fun," or "He looked like he was having fun." But thinking about it, it seems like you just use tense normally. Present: "He looks as if he's having fun," past: "He looked as if he was having fun," perfect past: "He looked as if he had fun."

~F

Whatchadoin · Answer

faximiliLet's say I just came at a party and heard a conversation between two girls. One of 'em said "I've been trying to do it.". I wouldn't understand if she was still trying or not.She's still trying.

I don't understand any of this. In another thread I was told that we wouldn't know whether she was still trying or not. And I still wouldn't know if someone told me "I've been trying to do it." or "I've been busy." whether s/he were still busy or not. I give up.

Faximili · Answer

Hey again watchadoin,

Sorry we're causing you confusion.

I think you may be trying to wrangle something out of English tense that is simply not encoded there. I don't know what your native language is, but some languages (Russian, for example, or so I am told) have verbs that focus on the "completed-ness" of the action and only add information about when it happened if it's relevant. The opposite is true in English--our tenses encode past, present, or future and nothing else. Some tenses might suggest whether or not the action is done, but that can almost never be 100% relied upon. If whether or not the action is complete is important, it will be stated explicitly (or else it may be clear from context.)

So, given just "I've been trying to do it," I would say (from context) that she's still trying, because if it was important that she was no longer trying, I'd have said "I tried to do it," or "I was trying to do it." That said, it would sound just fine to say "I've been trying to do it, but it was too hard so I gave up yesterday." Here I've stated explicitly that the trying is done. So in that sense, the other thread is correct--"I've been trying..." doesn't necessarily indicate one way or the other if she's still trying. Nonetheless, in the majority of sentences where I say "I've been..." I mean that I'm still doing it.

Hope that helps clarify,
~F

Present perfect continuous

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