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The use of "since" and "for" with the Present Perfect Simple

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Latest post Wed, Feb 22 2006 10:22 AM by paco2004. 1 replies.
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Wave  +  199676 Wed, 22 Feb 06 09:51 AM

Hi

I would like to know more about the use of "since" and "for" with the Present Perfect Simple.

I have found that these expressions are mainly used in the Present Perfect Simple in order to show a continuous situation, (especially with stative verbs that most of the time are used only in the simple tenses) and with negation. However, it seems to me that these expressions give the Present Perfect Simple the sense of "progressive" in other cases as well for example: "She has kept a dairy since she was 10 years old". Does this mean that she is still keeping her dairy?  If so, how is it different then from the sentences in the Present Perfect Progressive: "She has been keeping a dairy since she was 10 years old"?

 

Thanks for the help 
Wave
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paco2004  +  199678 Wed, 22 Feb 06 10:22 AM
"Since" is a connector to mean a period from the said time up to now (including "now").

There is not much difference in the meaning between "She has kept a diary" and "She has been keeping a diary". But the latter somewhat implies she will continue keeping the diary at least for a while. The former is neutral about this sort of implication. It says just "She has continued keeping the diary up to now".

paco
paco2004
Joined on Wed, Nov 17 2004
Senior Member 4,095
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