Teacher Discussion Forums

In these dialogues, the students need to choose the best verb form and answer why. Choosing the best verb form is simple enough but can anybody help me as to why they're the best verb form to use?(Number 3 is causing me most problems)

1. So how are you anyway? Done anything exciting since I last saw you?

No, nothing at all. It's rained / It's been raining all weekend. I haven't been / I haven't been going out once!

2. I'll phone you tonight to discuss the details, say about eight o'clock?

Could you make it a bit later? We'll have / We'll be having dinner at that time.

3. Excuse me, is it going to be much longer? I've waited / I've been waiting for over an hour!

I'm sorry, the computer's broken down / been breaking down and we've lost / we've been losing all our records. Dr Greenway will see you as soon as he can.

4. Put the camera down please, you'll break it / you'll be breaking it.

For most of the cases you give, the decision of whether or not to use the perfect aspect comes down to emphasis and is not a case of one form being "better" than the other. The problematic ones are:

(1) I haven't been going out once sounds strange because the present perfect continuous here suggests doing (or, in this case, not doing) the action several times (passing through a doorway is a rapid enough action that one rarely uses the continuous aspect), but you add the rider once, which is contradictory.

(3) The computer's broken down suggests it's happened once, which the computer's been breaking down would mean it's happened several times today. Same for lost/been losing. For example, you might say We haven't managed to finish the job - the computer's been breaking down all afternoon.

(4) You'll be breaking it suggests smashing the camera repeatedly against something, though some native speakers might use the continuous in speech for emphasis.

So, in most of your examples it doesn't make much difference which form you use; it comes down to speaker choice. All your problematic examples are "one off" or "instant" actions, which makes the continuous aspect sound strange.

To explain this to my students I use the following examples:
Ow! I've cut my finger! (instant)
*Ow! I've been cutting my finger! (usually raises a giggle in the class)
I've been cutting wood for the fire

The continuous forms emphasise the action itself (rather than the state or result).


I've been waiting for three hours in the rain.

We emphasise the action of waiting. The listener pictures the person waiting.

I waited until Bob got home.

The action of waiting is not the most important part of the sentence. (Otherwise, we'd say 'I was waiting...)

I know it sounds a bit abstract for ESL students to catch. They won't get it straight away.











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