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shvetsov2005
Joined: 30 Nov 2005
Posts: 115
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 Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 4:16 am Post subject: have been leaving |
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"And it has people with considerable intellectual capabilities who have been leaving India because the opportunities were not there."
The expression "have been leaving.." is the present continuous tense with meaning started leaving and continue to leave. Thus shouldn't there be "the opportunities ARE not there"? Or "intellectual capabilities who had been leaving"?
Alexander. |
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nostril5
Joined: 18 Oct 2004
Posts: 65
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 4:23 pm Post subject: It's correct! |
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The sentence is correct.
They use Present Perfect Continuous ['have been leaving'] (not Present Continuous) to talk about from the past until now, so Simple Past ['were'] is correct. In addition, we use Present Perfect Continuous to suggest that the situation is going to change, thus 'are' would be possible, but less likely.
I hope this helps.
Mike
http://www.ielts2u.bravehost.com |
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leslie
Joined: 12 Oct 2005
Posts: 244
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 4:44 pm Post subject: still puzzled by the usage of having been leaving |
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Hi,
I have a related question. Can 'leave' the verb be used in present perfect continuing form in this case? I remember when one wants to say that he left somewhere some time before, he is to say, for example: I left there 10 years ago, instead of 'I've left there for 10 years.' My question is:when you leave, you leave. The action is done. Leaving is not a lasting action. So, I was wondering why the above sentence used 'have been leaving'? Could you please elaborate more on it?
Thanks!
leslie |
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pinenut
Joined: 16 Feb 2006
Posts: 165
Location: Illinois, U.S.A.
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| Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2006 8:41 pm Post subject: Re: still puzzled by the usage of having been leaving |
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| leslie wrote: |
Hi,
I have a related question. Can 'leave' the verb be used in present perfect continuing form in this case? I remember when one wants to say that he left somewhere some time before, he is to say, for example: I left there 10 years ago, instead of 'I've left there for 10 years.' My question is:when you leave, you leave. The action is done. Leaving is not a lasting action. So, I was wondering why the above sentence used 'have been leaving'? Could you please elaborate more on it?
Thanks!
leslie |
The key difference between the sentence in the original quesion and yours is 'people who have been leaving'. There are many people, not one and they keep leaving one by one. |
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