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I am writing a summary for last year and I have just realized that I do not know what tense to use in the following situation: Since 2009 I have been developing a computer program. As I am describing what I was working on last year, what tense should I use? I think I cannot use simple past tense because I am still working on that. I also think I cannot use present perfect because the description will relate to period of time that passed. Could anyone help me on this? Thank you

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You could use several different tenses depending on the way you want to say it. Could you give an actual sentence where you would want to use this tense? –  Cerberus Mar 31 '12 at 12:11
Welcome to ESL&U! –  tchrist Mar 31 '12 at 16:23

2 Answers 2

If your summary focuses on what happened in 2011, but you are still working on the computer program now, then you could write something like this: "I continued working on the computer program which I started developing in 2009."

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thans but doesnt this imply that I do not work on it anymore? I thought past simple should not be used for something that still continue..? –  Confused1 Mar 31 '12 at 11:41
If you say that you "continued" working on the program, two things are clear: (1) that you started working on the program before 2011 and (2) that you didn't finish the program in 2011. –  PaulaJo Mar 31 '12 at 11:58
@Confused1 - the key point is that PaulaJo's answer says "I started developing", not "I developed". Starting development is an activity that did indeed cease in 2009. –  user16269 Mar 31 '12 at 12:01
The sentence "I have been developing a computer program since 2009" is grammatically accurate, as the others have commented, but that puts the point of reference at the present, and as far as I understand your question, your summary just refers to what you did in 2011. In this case, the verb "continue" is the best choice. –  PaulaJo Mar 31 '12 at 12:01

That looks right to me, you're using the present perfect continuous tense. I would move since 2009 to the end of the sentence though: I have been developing a computer program since 2009 feels more natural to me.

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