All my life I was dreaming vs All my life I have been dreaming

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in slightly different contexts. "All my life I was dreaming" implies that the dreaming happened continuously in the past, while "All my life I have been dreaming" suggests that the dreaming started in the past and is still ongoing. The choice between the two depends on whether you want to emphasize the continuous nature of the dreaming or its ongoing status.

Last updated: March 30, 2024 • 1354 views

This phrase is correct and can be used to express continuous dreaming in the past.

"All my life I was dreaming"

This phrase is used to indicate that dreaming was a continuous activity throughout one's life in the past.

Examples:

All my life I was dreaming of becoming a pilot.
All my life I was dreaming about traveling the world.

Show examples from the web [+]

All my life I've been dreaming of robbing a school.
Seems like yesterday I was here Dreaming my life away
And something seemed wrong about dreaming my life away.
It's just a girl spends her whole life dreaming of her memorial.
Because I'm sure that you spent the first 12 years of your life dreaming of being a vet.
Spend the rest of your life dreaming up great ideas that don't get funded.
We know what he did and so does he, and he can spend the next 20 years of his life dreaming of his perfect crime.
Well... It's just a girl spends her whole life dreaming of her memorial.
John Hunter: All my life I was a motormouth.
All my life I was a pauper.
All my life I've felt like I was here and somewhere else at the same time.
All my life I could never count on the future because I was too busy trying to keep what I had in the present from disappearing.
All my life I was full of complications, nowadays, I simplify.
But she just confessed to me that she spent her whole life - -dreaming about another man she was in love with
Amy, all my life, no one has trusted me, and all my life I wasn't trustworthy.
It was in the silence of my disquiet, at the hour of day when the landscape is a halo of Life and dreaming is mere dreaming, my love, that I raised up this strange book like the open doors of an abandoned house.
Because of me, you might actually get somewhere instead of dreaming your life away.
So how are you enjoying life amongst the dreaming spires?
I stared at the Walled City, dreaming what life might be like there.
I want the life we've been dreaming about since we were kids.

Alternatives:

Throughout my life, I was dreaming
For my entire life, I was dreaming

This phrase is correct and indicates that the dreaming started in the past and is still ongoing.

"All my life I have been dreaming"

This phrase is used to convey that the act of dreaming began in the past and continues into the present.

Examples:

All my life I have been dreaming of finding true love.
All my life I have been dreaming about starting my own business.

Show examples from the web [+]

All my life I've been dreaming of robbing a school.
A dream I've been dreaming all my life.
And something seemed wrong about dreaming my life away.
It's just a girl spends her whole life dreaming of her memorial.
Because I'm sure that you spent the first 12 years of your life dreaming of being a vet.
Spend the rest of your life dreaming up great ideas that don't get funded.
I want the life we've been dreaming about since we were kids.
All my life, I've been dreaming about a woman like her.
All my life, I've been dreaming of working in the tiling industry.
Seems like yesterday I was here Dreaming my life away
We know what he did and so does he, and he can spend the next 20 years of his life dreaming of his perfect crime.
Well... It's just a girl spends her whole life dreaming of her memorial.
I have been dreaming of payback, for the two of you taking away years of my life.
All my life I have prayed against this day.
Because all my life I have done what it takes to get ahead.
In all my life I have never heard anyone say something rude with a style so perfectly...
So all my life I have wanted to find this stuff out, and spent the last four years tracking these old guys down.
So all my life I have wanted to find this stuff out, and spent the last four years tracking these old guys down.
All my life I have waited for the great adventurer to offer me a place at his side.
All my life I have prepared for combat.

Alternatives:

Throughout my life, I have been dreaming
For my entire life, I have been dreaming

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All my life I was dreaming vs All my life I have been dreaming