Which one is correct? Why?

Question

Who has been drinking my wine? There's only half a glass left.Who was drinking my wine? There's only half a glass left.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

anonymousWho has been drinking my wine? There's only half a glass left.

That is the most reasonable one. The present perfect progressive indicates an action that started in the past, and may be still ongoing.

CalifJim · Answer

anonymousWho has been drinking my wine? There's only half a glass left.

You want this one. It refers to a present result (There's ~ There is) so the present perfect continuous goes with it. When you have an on-going activity that spans from the past to the present causing a result in the present, you almost always use this same pattern of tenses.

(You can call this the Goldilocks pattern, after the many instances of it in "Goldilocks and the Three Bears": Who has been eating my porridge? It's all gone. / Who has been sitting in my chair? It's broken. / Who has been sleeping in my bed? She's still here.)

Lucy has been working hard all day.  Now she's very tired and needs to get some sleep.
Brian has been eating too much these days.  His doctor says he'll have to lose some weight.
I've been spending money like crazy lately, which is why I'm broke at the moment.

CJ

Which one is correct? Why?

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