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I want to say that someone is my favorite actor for the last 10 years, and that he still is.

Do I say

  1. He is my favorite actor for the last 10 years.
  2. He has been my favorite actor for the last 10 years.
  3. He is being my favorite actor for the last 10 years.
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    The answers to For the last Х years - with which tense may be helpful.
    – ColleenV
    Jan 2, 2015 at 17:52
  • @ColleenV, actually I think it can definitely be answered with that question. So does it become a duplicate now?
    – M.A.R.
    Jan 2, 2015 at 18:01
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    @MARamezani It may be a duplicate, but I would like to give maya a chance to look it over and maybe edit their question to clarify why the other question's answers aren't helpful. I don't like to close vote questions from new users 15 minutes after they're posted. It's not friendly :)
    – ColleenV
    Jan 2, 2015 at 18:06
  • it helps a little. so I need the present perfect continuous, but I have verb 'to be', so I don't know how to use it. is it he "has been being"? it sounds a little bit odd to me.
    – maya
    Jan 2, 2015 at 18:11
  • Also, Canonical Post #2: What is the perfect, and how should I use it? has some good general information about the perfect tense. There isn't a direct answer to your question, but you might find information there that would be helpful in the future.
    – ColleenV
    Jan 2, 2015 at 19:08

2 Answers 2

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Sentence #2 is the correct form:

He has been my favorite actor for the last 10 years.

The present perfect continuous is used to show that the action started in the past and continues in the present. It is also referred to as the present perfect progressive.

It's a little confusing in your example because you are using a form of "to be" as your main verb. Usually the present perfect continuous is formed with the present tense of "have" (have or has), the past participle of "be" (been), and the present participle of the main verb like this:

He has been working on his novel for the last 10 years.

In this example "work" is the main verb, so we use the present participle form of it. In your example there is no verb other than "be" - he is your favorite - so you don't have to add the present participle of "be" in addition to the past participle. The present tense of "have" with the past participle of "be" is all you need. "He has been being" would be redundant.

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The sentence #2 is correct.

The word "be" is used both as an auxiliary and a main verb. When used as the main verb, it's a stative verb. Like most of the stative verbs, we don't use it in a progressive form. Hence, the sentence #3 is grammatically incorrect.

As for the sentence #1, we don't use the present simple when we refer to time with something happening or existing continuosly from the past to the protest. We use the present perfect continuous tense for action verbs and the present perfect tense for stative verbs, a few examples of stative verbs are given below:

I have known him for 10 years, not I know him for the last 10 years.

He has been my favorite actor for 10 years, not he is my favorite actor for the last 10 years.

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