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Which sentence is correct?

  1. I wonder why he is being so nice to me today. Usually, he doesn't even say "Hi!"

  2. I wonder why he has been so nice to me today. Usually, he doesn't even say "Hi!"

It's quite obvious that Present Continuous is fine, but what's with Present Perfect? Can it be used or it doesn't make sense at all?

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    Both are grammatically correct, but each conveys a different meaning. The present continuous conveys that the action as presently ongoing. The present perfect conveys the action as complete and in the past but may be suggestive of the action continuing up until just before the present moment, and the present perfect conveys the past action as having some present effect, an effect you are currently referencing, like in this case, that effect my be your resulting surprise or bewilderment or curiosity or suspiciousness or whatever it is that's leading you to say what you're saying.
    – Benjamin Harman
    Commented May 18, 2021 at 7:19
  • Thanks a lot for the explanation!
    – Elisaveta
    Commented May 18, 2021 at 8:01

1 Answer 1

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As Benajmin explained, both are correct

It all depends on the context of what you try to use those sentences in. take this timeline for instance:

(action A) : being nice

============ AAAAAAA =======>

As you can see by the first sentence or the present continues, you're trying to imply that I can see there is a limited amount of time in which I found him being nice or simply I have recently discovered him being nice.

BUT for the second statement or the present perfect:

(action A) : being nice

(action B) : you seeing him being nice

ABABABABABABABABABAB... =======>

meaning: He has been nice throughout the day and you have been seeing it and feeling it and now you are explaining it to some certain people.

Hope that helps.

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