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How can we omit the subject and/or helping verb after "as well as" with the present perfect continuous tense? Example:

  1. I have completed this project as well as been working on another one.
  2. I have completed this project as well as have been working on another one.

1 Answer 1

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There has been a drift in the last generation towards employing as well as as a coordinating conjunction equivalent to and; but this use still raises eyebrows in formal registers. It will annoy many readers, so until we're all dead (or at least retired from positions where we exercise influence over your audience) I recommend you reserve as well as for marking supplemental (parenthetical) clauses.

But even with and I would avoid this sort of conjunction:

 I have     completed this project
        and been working on another one.

This is technically "grammatical"; but the coordination of a simple and a progressive perfect is jarring—it makes the reader shuttle backward to sort out the syntax. As a courtesy to your reader, use the long form instead:

 I      have completed this project
   and  have been working on another one.
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  • Thanks! but what is the alternative that gives the same meaning? I wrote an email to a potential supervisor (Graduate studies) and I wanted to tell him that 1- I have almost completed my degree. 2- I have been working at the hospital where he is working since February 2015. I am limited to 3 paragraph and every paragraph should serve one idea only.
    – menkare
    Feb 4, 2017 at 22:48
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    @menkare "I have almost completed my degree and have been working at __ since February 2015." Feb 4, 2017 at 23:00
  • If you're insisting on the format in the example what's wrong with 'I have completed this project as well as working on another one'? That's not great literature but it's clear. Feb 12, 2017 at 23:27

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