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?
1 Answer
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.