The difference between Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Progressive

Question

The difference between Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Progressive

This sentence comes from a source as follows:
https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=7Xk0AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=%22a+cold+wind+has+been+blowing,+it+has+rained%22&source=bl&ots=yhLqsx-qA9&sig=CxEVGofkHbN-4yPzgGRXH--zXR4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjHv9fckNDJAhWBnJQKHRg1BccQ6AEIGjAA#v=onepage&q=%22a%20cold%20wind%20has%20been%20blowing%2C%20and%20it%20has%20rained%22&f=false

The weather has been dismal ever since our vacation began; a cold wind has been blowing, and it has rained almost every day.

In these three underlined parts, two are used as Present Perfect(PP) and one as Present Perfect Progressive(PPP).

I have no problem with two PPs, but with a PPP.

Is this PPP can also be used as PP?
(Is this possible?)

Actually in my grammatical sense it's awkward to use this PPP as PP, but I can not explain. Can you give me your thoughts?
(Thanks a lot.)

And if my grammatical sense is wrong, that means both PPP and PP can be used interchangeably in this context.
(If it is, tell me so.)

Lastly even though the two uses of tense is interchangeable, is there any reason the author of this sentence used PPP?

(I know my questions seems to do with too many trifling details. But TENSE is terribly hard subject to anyone learning English as a foreign language. So excuse all my petty questions.)

Regards.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Stenka25I know my questions ~~seems~~ seem to do with too many trifling details.

There are a lot of details, but they're not trifling.

Tense is a difficult topic, and actually, learning a foreign language is essentially learning its tense system. Everything after that is easy.

Stenka25The weather has been dismal ever since our vacation began; a cold wind has been blowing, and it has rained almost every day.

1. has been is a form of be, so it would be quite unusual to find it in a progressive form. You are probably already familiar with the concept of "non-progressive verbs".

2. has blown would indicate that the wind blew once and then stopped. In this sentence you want to say that the wind kept blowing without any letup, so you need the -ing form.

3. has rained by itself would indicate that it rained once and then stopped, the same as with example 2 about the wind. But to change that core meaning we have "almost every day", so the idea is that it rained and stopped and rained and stopped and rained and stopped, the intended meaning. has been raining would indicate that the rain never stopped, which would be contradictory to "almost every day". In other words, has been raining every day is somewhat anomalous. The better way to say that the rain was continuous would be has been raining for X days.

CJ

Stenka25 · Answer

Thanks a lot as always, CJ

1. Right. I know about "non-progressive verbs". I think you know me better than I do when I get involved in English questons.

2. Right. (I know your explanation theoretically, but the context 'has been blowing' is placed which is between 'has been' and 'has rained' put me at a loss. Now, with your illumination I've got the clear picture.)

3. Right. I'm sure I now know about this tricky tense much better than before. Thank you

The difference between Present Perfect vs. Present Perfect Progressive

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