Eli5. What’s the difference between “She has used the bag for three years” and “She has been using the bag for three years”.

Question

I encountered this earlier in my class and I can’t quite tell the difference. Please help. Non-native English speaker here 🥲

In: Other

Answer 1

**”She has used the bag for three years.”**

* This is the PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE tense.
* The action started in the past and has just recently ended/completed.
* The pattern for this is “has + (past participle verb).”
* So, we can say that until recently, she used the bag for three years and will not use the bag anymore.

**”She has been using the bag for three years.”**

* This is the PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS tense.
* The action started in the past and has continued until now and will continue in the future.
* The pattern for this is “has + (verb+ing).”
* So, we can say that for the past three years she has been using the bag and will continue to use it later.