Present Perfect Continuous and Present Perfect Simple

 

Photo credit: Freepik 

Many ESL students ask me about the difference between the Present Perfect Continuous and the Present Perfect Simple. The difference is not too complicated to understand. 

Look at the following Present Perfect Continuous Sentences:

My sister has been doing her laundry.

The boys have been playing soccer.

I have been baking these pies for 10 minutes.

 In the examples above, we don’t’ care whether the activity (has/have been + verb-ing) is over or not. We are simply interested in what has been happening; we are interested in the activity itself.

 Now, let’s take a look at the following Present Perfect Simple Sentences:

 My sister has done her laundry.

The boys have played soccer.

I have baked the pies.

 In the examples given above, we are interested in the result. We are interested in the activity that has been completed. The completed activity is our focus.

 Let’s compare the two.

 Present Perfect Continuous:

I am tired. I have been cleaning the house from top to bottom.

In the example above, the focus is the activity (cleaning the house).

 Present Perfect Simple

I have cleaned the house.

In the example above, our focus is the result of the activity. I have cleaned the house= The house is not dirty anymore; the action (cleaning) has been completed, and now we can see the result.

 Japanese Translation by: Google Translate

多くのESLの学生が、現在完了形と現在完了形の違いについて私に尋ねます。違いは理解するのにそれほど複雑ではありません。

次の現在完了形を見てください。

 My sister has been doing her laundry.

The boys have been playing soccer.

I have been baking these pies for 10 minutes.

 上記の例では、アクティビティ（過去/過去+動詞）が終了したかどうかは関係ありません。私たちは単に何が起こっているかに興味があります。活動そのものに興味があります。

 それでは、次の現在完了形を見てみましょう。

My sister has done her laundry.

The boys have played soccer.

I have baked the pies.

 上記の例では、結果に関心があります。完了した活動に興味があります。完了したアクティビティが私たちの焦点です。

 2つを比較してみましょう。

 連続完璧な存在：

I am tired. I have been cleaning the house from top to bottom.

In the example above, the focus is the activity (cleaning the house).

 

現在完了形シンプル

I have cleaned the house.

上記の例では、焦点はアクティビティの結果です。私は家を掃除しました=家はもう汚れていません。アクション（クリーニング）が完了し、結果を確認できます。