What’s the difference?

Present Perfect Simple

1. To describe unfinished states
ex: I’ve known Mark for 2 years. 

2. To describe the result of an action (how many?)
ex: I have read 100 pages today. (How many pages?)

3. To describe recent “one-time” actions
ex: I have (just) cut my finger. (this only happened once)

Present Perfect Continuous

1. To describe unfinished actions.
ex: I’ve been teaching English for 10 years.

2. To describe the activity.
ex: I’ve been reading for 2 hours. (How long?)

3. To describe recent “repeated” actions
ex: I’ve been working hard recently. (this happened more than once)

So there you have it.  That is the difference between the Present Perfect Simple and Continuous tenses.  If you need more information, or want to see how Matt teaches this lesson, simply watch the video below.

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