I have eaten cookies since 10 a.m.

Hi, Apple -- The sentence "I have eaten cookies since 10 a.m." is correct, but it would not normally mean that the cookie-eating has stretched from then until now, as would "I have been eating cookies since 10 a.m." Rather, "I have eaten cookies since 10 a.m." works rather like "I have eaten cookies today." Cookie-eating on the part of the speaker has taken place at some subinterval of time between 10 a.m. and now.

How about

• I have eaten potato chips all morning.
• I have been eating potato chips all morning.

Can these two sentence mean the same, that is, eating potato chips was a continuous action in both sentences?

apple

@apple posted:

How about

• I have eaten potato chips all morning.
• I have been eating potato chips all morning.

Can these two sentence mean the same, that is, eating potato chips was a continuous action in both sentences?

The first sentence means that, taking into account your lifetime up till now, there has been at least one morning when you ate potato chips continuously.

The second sentence means that, this morning (of today), which either has not ended yet or has just ended, you ate potato chips continuously.

Hello again,

I found the following. Even if the underlined part was changed to “have been reading” its meaning would be almost the same, that is, the reading was repeatedly done during 1990 and now, wouldn’t it?

         What I looked for in a comfort food is something rich, long     and complex. I want the same from a book, so I always return to this novel, which I have read since its publication in 1990, in hospital, on holiday, when I have been bereaved and for the sheer comfort and joy it gives me wherever I find myself.

https://www.theguardian.com/bo...%20find%20myself.%20

apple

@apple posted:

Hello again,

I found the following. Even if the underlined part was changed to “have been reading” its meaning would be almost the same, that is, the reading was repeatedly done during 1990 and now, wouldn’t it?

         What I looked for in a comfort food is something rich, long     and complex. I want the same from a book, so I always return to this novel, which I have read since its publication in 1990, in hospital, on holiday, when I have been bereaved and for the sheer comfort and joy it gives me wherever I find myself.

Obviously, that is the intended meaning. I find the sentence rather unnatural with the present perfect simple in that particular order. In its present order, the sentence would be much better with the present-perfect progressive.

With the present perfect simple, it would be better, in my opinion, to front the "since"-clause within the relative clause. That way there won't be the fleeting sense of the unintended meaning, which contradicts the context.

• I always return to this novel, which I have been reading since its publication in 1990, in hospital, on holiday, [etc.].
• I always return to this novel,which, since its publication in 1990, I have read in hospital, on holiday, [etc.].

Thank you, David.

So, except for those that can usually not be used in progressive, such as know, like, understand, etc, most of the popular regular such as read, write, eat, carry different sense of meanings when used in the present perfect simple and the present perfect progressive.

I have read this article three times since last night.

I have been reading this article since last night.

Can the verb “sleep” mean the same in the following tenses, the present perfect simple and the present perfect progressive?

I have slept on the floor since I was very young.

I have been sleeping on the floor since I was very young.

apple