suppose after a long time my friend has come to my house. Can I welcome him saying 'Hey bro, what's up? I have been waiting for your visit for a long time. Nice to see you again.'? Should I use 'have been waiting' or 'was waiting' in the sentence?
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4Possible duplicate of "Has been" vs "was". Also What is the difference between “I was there” and “I have been there”?, Was vs Has been, “was created” vs “has been created”, and doubtless many more. – FumbleFingers Reinstate Monica Sep 2 '17 at 17:05
I have been waiting for your visit for a long time is correct in this case since the present perfect continuous tense is used when the focus is on an activity that is unfinished till to the present ( the moment when you see your friend). But the past continuous tense is used to talk about something which continued before and after another action in the past. For example: The children were doing their homework when I got home.
