she has cried vs she has been crying

Question

Hello, I have question about the use of present perfect and its progressive form. I read from a grammar book that "She has cried" is grammatically wrong, though the form is right, and the right way to say is "She has been crying"; And the other similar cases include "She has played cards,";"She's fooled with my papers", which are both grammatically wrong. I want to know more about the subject. Why? Or there's no reason, just rule? Could you give more examples?
Thank you very much.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

She has cried.
She has played cards.
She's fooled with my papers.

They are not wrong; they simply refer to a past experience or action at some unspecified time. The progressive forms indicate that it is very recent and is probably continuing or will continue to occur.

CalifJim · Answer

paris zhaoI read from a grammar book that "She has cried" is grammatically wrong, though the form is right, and the right way to say is "She has been crying"; And the other similar cases include "She has played cards,";"She's fooled with my papers", which are both grammatically wrong.

I don't think your book is explaining this as well as it could. Those forms are not grammatically wrong. It's just that they are not used very much because the special situations that they describe do not occur often.

More often than not, the present perfect progressive is used to describe an action that started in the past but is still continuing at the time you mention it.

If she started crying an hour ago and she is still crying: She has been crying. She has been crying for an hour.
If she started playing cards at 2 o'clock and she is still playing cards: She has been playing cards. She has been playing cards since 2 o'clock.

If she experienced episodes of crying in the past (She started and then stopped each time): She has cried. (But we rarely say it this way; we add more.) She has cried more than once since her sister died.
If she experienced episodes of card playing in the past (She started and then stopped each time): She has played cards. She has played cards quite a few times, so it will be easy for her to learn a new card game.

You cannot make any distinction between these two forms when you use a non-progressive verb. These verbs cannot be used in any progressive tense. The most important of these to remember are be and have.

She has been sick with the flu since last Tuesday. Never, She has been being sick with the flu since last Tuesday.
She has had a pet dog for 10 years. Never, She has been having a pet dog for 10 years.

CJ

Addendum: You can use the present perfect progressive even if the action started in the past but is not continuing at the time you mention it (i.e., it stopped). You can do this when there is evidence at the present moment that the action occurred. Thus:

Her eyes are swollen and her cheeks are wet. She has been crying.

CJ

she has cried vs she has been crying

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