Re: False friends

Tak To wrote:
Joachim Pense wrote:

Am 21 Nov 2006 10:56:02 -0800 schrieb Nigel Greenwood:

Joachim Pense wrote:

Am 21 Nov 2006 03:10:57 -0800 schrieb Nigel Greenwood:

Joachim Pense wrote:

No, that one I don't. Only I find myself sometimes failing to find the
right tense/aspect (present perfect continuous, methinks) to make sure
that "for" denotes a time interval from some point in the past lasting
through to the present, and not one that will go on. So I want to say
"Ich warte seit drei Stunden", spontaneously produce in my mind "I am
waiting for three hours", reject that and replace it by the clumsy but
safe "I am waiting since three hours ago"

Not even safe! You'd still have to say "I've been waiting since 3
hours ago" or "I started waiting 3 hours ago".

Intersting. What is wrong in "I'm waiting since 3 hours ago"?

My guess would be that you've been saying this for so long that it
seems OK to you!

Sank you for assuming that I haff a working - if distortet - English
Sprachgefuhl.
I'm afraid it isn't grammatical English. You can say
"I'm waiting" by itself, but as soon as you mention a specific time in
the past you have to use the present perfect continuous (or whatever

So this is opposite to simple present perfect, which must not be used
with a specific time in the past.

present perfect - action started in the past and has completed
- in some context which is still continuing.
e.g. "I have seen it" implies that the 'it' is still happening/extant/visible/present.
"I saw it" (at least in conservative British usage) implies that the 'it' is no longer happening/extant/visible/present.

present perfect continuous - action started in the past and is
expected to continue into the future
No - up to the present, not necessarily into the future.
e.g. "What kept you? I've been waiting for hours!".


Colin
.

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