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		Grammar and Linguistics > Help on the duration form     
			
		 Help on the duration form 
		
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 genzianella
 
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							| Help on the duration form 
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							| Hi fellow teachers! One grammar question for you. I was doing an exercise where you had to rephrase sentences and I stumbled upon this one:   She took up knitting 5 years ago (been)   Is the answer, by any chance  "She has been knitting for 5 years "?   you know what, using the duration form in this sentence gives me the idea that she has been knitting for 5 years and she has done nothing else , that all she has been doing in 5 years is knitting , that she started knitting 5 years ago and she hasn �t stopped ever since :)   Am I wrong? Please help!     |  13 Sep 2009      
					
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 medeainside
 
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							| Hi genzianella!! That would be the correct grammar transformation. However, it sounds awkward!! ;D  |  13 Sep 2009     
					
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 anitarobi
 
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							| I �d say you �re right. Gramatically it is correct, yet the sound is a bit continuous. Well you could always add  �as a hobby � to the second sentence if it is important in the context. |  13 Sep 2009     
					
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 ballycastle1
 
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							| Hi genzeniala,   Because the present perfect continuous is used to specify when an action began as in I �ve been driving for thirty years which is obviously not continuous, as well as duration up to the present, your answer is correct. |  13 Sep 2009     
					
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 genzianella
 
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							| well, then, ballycastle1 has clarifyed all my doubts! thanks a million to you all!   p.s. thanks also for confirming me that it DID sound a bit dodgy! |  13 Sep 2009     
					
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