Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

hanygeorge38 · Joined: 12 Jul 2003 Posts: 90 Location: egypt

Dear Teacher,

What is the defference bettween the following two sentences

1- I have been working here for two years
2- I have worked here for two years

also in the following sentence why (want) is in the past

- I told her father that I wanted to marry her

Thanks
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hany

Honey · Joined: 25 Apr 2003 Posts: 89 Location: Colombia

Bonjour!

With the first pair of sentences, the difference is that the second one is more general, I mean, you just bear in mind the time you've worked there. When using the other one, you might also take into accout other aspects about the event you're talking about. That's why the second one is the most used.

About the last expression, it's in past because it's direct speech, so it must go with the same tense of the first part. The use of "that" doesn't make it indirect, because it depends of your quotation.
Unless it's indirect speech and you don't want to marry her anymore... Rolling Eyes

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Sweet like Honey
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