Help with present tense construction?

[Ryan Straker 1995]

Hi everyone,

I'm just writing this post because I'm stuck with a particular construction I have found in my grammar guide.

I'm going over the present tense, and one of the uses of it, as I'm sure you'll all know, is to convey an action that began in the past and continues in the present. This I understand.

The author of the grammar then went on to give three constructions of how to do this:

1. Hace + expression of time + que + conjugated verb

2. Conjugated verb + hace + expression of time

3. Conjugated verb + desde hace + expression

Generally, I understand this, and can competently use all three constructions effectively.

However, I was talking to a native speaker the other day, and I used the first construction, and she said that it was completely wrong, and that the third construction was better. Why is this? Is my grammar guide wrong or are the three constructions used in differing geographic/contextual settings? Is it merely a case of one being predominant in South America and another being prominent in Spain?

Thanks