confusing

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1
  1. You are confusing me.
  2. You confuse me.
  3. You have been confusing me.
  4. You have confused me.
    Please check and correct my sentences.
    Thanks.
2

No corrections necessary.

3

Beeesneees,
‘The following usages have always been confusing me.’
Could you please explain how this sentence is wrong?
Thanks.

4

The tense is wrong.

5

Beesneees,
You have already told us that the tense is wrong.
I couldn’t understand how present perfect continuous tense is wrong.
Please be kind enough to explain with the logic involved in the sentence.
The same tense is used with the sentence - ‘You have been confusing me.’ which you quote it is correct.
Thanks.

6

Yes, you’re right.
This is what comes of supplying a series of completely non-contextualised sentences
On second thoughts, ‘You have been confusing me’ is also unlikely as a standalone sentence.
It is used, but only as a phrase as part of a longer sentence:
“You’ve been confusing me by behaving like that at the start of every meeting we’ve had this year, It seemed out of character. Thank you for explaining.”

The following usages have been confusing me for a number of years now.
is possible, but once 'always ’ is added, you can no longer add that type of phrase, so the present perfect simple is used.
some verbs are really almost never used in progressive forms even when the meaning is one where you would use a progressive. (The most familiar of these are be, have and know.)

7

Hello Beeesneees,

I have learnt in some English grammar books that “always” is not usually used with the present perfect continuous tense, for instance, In *“English Grammar in Use” by R.Murphy one can read the following:

… But we use the simple (I’ve lived, I’ve done etc.) with always:

 I'[i]ve always lived[/i] in the country. ([i]not[/i] [i]always been living[/i]) 

  Dear teacher, could the rule above be another response/solution to Allifathima's query? 

    Thanks.

*page 22; 3-rd edition

8

That rule is what I was getting at when I said:
“once 'always ’ is added, you can no longer add that type of phrase”

9

Talking of confusion, I think some further explanation is needed for this -

10

Hmm, I seem to have managed to edit out the beginning of that. It was quite early in the day. The statement should have been prefixed with
'Note that sometimes it is possible to use both simple and continuous forms (depending on how the speaker sees the situation) of a sentence. For example: “It’s been raining all week.” / “It’s rained all week”. However, there is one general rule of thumb that may help you decide which is most appropriate in some situations:[color=blue]some verbs are really almost never used in progressive forms even when the meaning is one where you would use a progressive. (The most familiar of these are be, have and know.)

11

Beeesneees,
1a. You’ve been confusing me by behaving like a child.(OK)
1b. You’ve been always confusing me by behaving like a child. (wrong)
2a. You’ve confuse me by behaving like a child. (OK)
2b. You’ve always confuse me by behaving like a child. (OK)
Are my comments within brackets correct or not?
Thanks.

12

Considering the corrections,yes, IMHO.