Why use present perfect simple?

Question

This is from a novel: "we have walked along the beach and are now approaching the prom".

Why not use "we have been walking along the beach? It is recent and it conveys duration, so to me the present perfect continuous seems a good choice.

I thought the present perfect simple is used in contexts like: we have walked along the beach many times or we have walked 5 miles along the beach.

Lastword · Accepted Answer

Your technical understanding is certainly not incorrect but you are asking why an author of a novel chose to express something in a particular way. Depending on the quality of the author, I suspect that the answer can only be ascertained by considering the context your excerpt. If that does not help, can you reply by giving the entire containing paragraph (or more)?

Ivanhr · Answer

olive file 673Why not use "we have been walking along the beach? It is recent and it conveys duration, so to me the present perfect continuous seems a good choice.

The present perfect continuous often indicates that the action continues into the present but this is clearly not the case here since they're approaching the promenade (and thus leaving the beach).

Also, "have walked" could indicate that the walking was occasionally interrupted (e.g by periods of rest etc)

Sometimes, there's no difference in meaning and either verb form can be used.

I've been living here for 10 years.

or

I've lived here for 10 years.

And finally, remember that this paragraph is from a novel and authors often have their own reasons why they write something the way they do.

Lastword · Answer

You have not provided any context or at least not the context that I asked for. Can you post the text that is written immediately before and after your excerpt, "we have walked along the beach and are now approaching the prom", for example the paragraph before and the paragraph after?

AlpheccaStars · Answer

olive file 673"we have walked along the beach

This implies that their beach walk is almost finished. They are leaving the beach and either going to continue walking somewhere else, or going to stop walking.

Why use present perfect simple?

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions