We normally use the present perfect continuous for this:
She has been living in Liverpool all her life.
Why can't we use:
She has lived in Liverpool all her life.
Still, if we do can, what is the difference?
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Sign up to join this communityWe normally use the present perfect continuous for this:
She has been living in Liverpool all her life.
Why can't we use:
She has lived in Liverpool all her life.
Still, if we do can, what is the difference?
Both sentences are correct:
She has been living in Liverpool all her life.
She has lived in Liverpool all her life.
The difference between these two is where you the speaker wish to place your focus:
With has been living in the first sentence, the focus is to show an uninterrupted activity starting in the past and continuing up to the present.
With has lived in the second sentence, the focus is not on the activity of living, but on the fact the activity began at an unspecified time in the past and continues until the present. The focus is the fact that it began in the past at an unspecified time.
In some situations, this focus aspect is very important:
She has played tennis this week.
(During the week, she played tennis, the week is not finished but the actual time is not specified and she is not playing tennis now while the week is still not over.)
She has been playing tennis week.
(The activity started in the past and is still going on in the present at the time of speaking. The focus is the actual activity and that it is still going on.)
ɴᴏᴛᴀ ʙᴇɴᴇ: None of this has anything to do with British English versus American English.