Clarifications in verb tense

[krishnakumarhod]

Can you please tell me the difference between


She was playing with her friends when the babysitter arrived

and

She played with her friends when the babysitter arrived


also the difference between

we have lived in a hut for three days

and

we have been living in the hut hut for the past 3 days

[tim]

"was playing" indicates that the play started before the babysitter arrived and continued up to the arrival (and possibly beyond). "played" makes it sound like the arrival of the babysitter prompted her to play with her friends..

For the second one, if you have lived in the hut for three days, those three days could have been at any time, not necessarily consecutive. If you have been living there for three days, it means three days in a row counting back from today..

[krishnakumarhod]

Now i get the first one

We have lived in a hut for three days

and

we have been living in the hut for 3 days

Please tell me the difference between the above 2.
If you could give me more explanation in terms of tense it would be great

[shrivastava.rohit]

Now i get the first one

We have lived in a hut for three days

and

we have been living in the hut for 3 days

Please tell me the difference between the above 2.
If you could give me more explanation in terms of tense it would be great

As explained above,

"We have lived" makes the sentence a past tense. Meaning that you lived in a hut for three days sometime back. When is not known.

"We have been living" is more like a past tense, which still continues since you are still "Living" there as opposed to have "Lived" there.

First, statement takes the meaning of the sentence to an event that occured sometime in the past.

Second, Statement makes it "Present Progressive" Or also known as present countinous tense. Which means you are describing something that is in progress.

Hope it helps.

[tim]

That's exactly it; thanks..