Hi Paul
paul_h“I have worked here since 2000.
There should not be much difference to
I have been working here since 2000.
Maybe the latter is putting a little more stress on the duration.”
There is no significant difference in meaning in those particular sentences, however I would agree that the continuous form tends to add to the sense of duration.
paul_h “I have contacted him since two weeks ago.”
If you want to refer to a series of contacts in the last two weeks, you could write something like this, for example:
- I have been in contact with him for two weeks.paul_h “I have been contacting him since two weeks ago.”
This is better than your last sentence if you want to refer to a series of contacts. However, it does not refer to a series of
attempts to contact. It refers to a series of contacts.
paul_h “I understand that the latter implies that I over and over tried to reach him.”
If you want to indicate a series of attempts to contact him, you can say something like this:
- I have been trying to contact him for two weeks / since two weeks ago.paul_h “The first one, however, does it mean that I tried to call him (once) in the given period or also that I tried over and over again?”
The following sentence could be used to mean that you contacted him at least once within the time frame of the last two weeks. The specific time of the contact within the time frame is otherwise unspecified:
- I have contacted him since two weeks ago.It is fairly likely that the sentence above would be used to contradict a statement that claimed the last contact with him was two weeks ago. In this sort of context, the word "have" would be stressed in the spoken sentence.