I think/I'm thinking/I've been thinking

[Natalia]

Which of the sentences is the most accurate? In other words, which one should I use when expressing my feelings towards someone?

1) I think about you all the time.
2) I'm thinking about you all the time.
3) I've been thinking about you all the time.

[Daniel]

1) In general, most common. It's a description of what you generally do.
2) This is more specific, and probably includes the current moment. It is not as common and makes me think of a context where you want to emphasize what you are doing while you are not able to see someone-- maybe you are writing to someone you love who is away for a long time, reminding them that you are always thinking about them.
3) This is a little awkward because it focuses on the past but then you say "all the time". It would be fine with "a lot" instead. It would have basically the same contextual meaning as the others.

[Natalia]

Thank you for your comment. Going back to Present Perfect, the most common definition of this tense is "actions/states  that started in the past and continuing up to the present", so I thought that my third example would be OK.

[Daniel]

Going back to Present Perfect, the most common definition of this tense is "actions/states  that started in the past and continuing up to the present", so I thought that my third example would be OK.

But the focus is still on the past, in relation to the present.

"I have been waiting for you all day! Where were you?"


And as I said "a lot" is normal there. But not "all the time" because that sounds like it should be a habitual (simple present) form.

[Copernicus]

In Russian, the English present perfect sometimes translates into present tense, as in Я изучаю русский язык уже пять лет  "I have studied Russian already for five years" (lit. "I am studying Russian already for five years").

[Natalia]

OK, I think I’m beginning to understand it. Can you, however, give me the context in which I could use the sentence “I’ve been thinking about you a lot” as you did in case of Present Simple and Present Continuous tense in your first comment? You said “It would have basically the same contextual meaning as the others”, but I‘d like to be accurate.

[Daniel]

If someone asked you about your day/week/month, you might say that. It would be more about telling then what you have been doing in the past, to inform them you have been thinking about them. If you say "I think about you a lot" it's more general. But obviously they have similar meanings.

[Natalia]

OK I understand it now. Thank you very much.

[Natalia]

Let me ask you another question about Present Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous.
In two different grammar books I’ve found the following examples in these two tenses:
1) “I’m reading a very good book. (= I’m reading it around the time of speaking)”
2) “I’ve been reading the book you lent me on genetics. (= I’m still reading it)”

In both cases the action is  still ongoing, that person hasn’t finished the book. So what’s the difference between these two examples? Isn’t that we just emphasise different things?
This is my way of thinking about these two examples:
In example 1) we emphasise that the action is temporary (it’s going to finish at some point in the past), it’s happening around the time of speaking.
In example 2) the action started in the past and is still continuing; the focus here is on the activity itself, that is “reading a book” . (However, I would add here “for” or “since” because they are commonly used in this tense)

Could you comment on this, please? Personally, in everyday conversation, I would use the sentence 1).

[Daniel]

Isn’t that we just emphasise different things?

Yes. Do you want to say that you have been reading it (up until now) or do you want to say that you still are reading it?

Truth conditions (the situations in which a sentence may be truth) are just part of the meaning. The other is based on your intentions and emphasis in a context. If you describe a picture, there are many things you could say about it.

[Natalia]

So when I say „I’ve been reading the book you lent me on genetics”  it means that I started reading the book in the past and have just stopped at the time of speaking?

[Daniel]

No. It means you were reading the book in the past. It doesn't mean anything more than that.

You MIGHT be able to imply that you stopped-- if I interrupted you, you might yell at me "I was reading!" (because you are not now), but that entirely depends on the context.

In fact, "been reading" is continuous, so in contrast to "was reading" it almost always means you are still reading now-- not necessarily in the moment, but that you may have not yet finished the book.

That sentence is a description of the past with strong present relevance.

I would suggest looking at a corpus of usage to see the contexts for this type of usage for verbs. For example:
http://corpus.byu.edu/
(Or you can even just search Google to see context for phrases.)

[Natalia]

Thank you. You're very helpful.