conjugate : to go

User since 2008
Posts: 588

8 Aug. 2009

Hy Tony
1.
I think in the exercise they didn't ask for a form of "to go", but for a form of "to be".
I have gone is okay
I have been is okay

But "I have been gone" is too much!

In this context you had to choose "I have been to Japan" at an unspecified time ( not yesterday, not last year, agreed?
CW

AhQ ['a: kiu]

User since 2006
Posts: 2715

9 Aug. 2009

That's an odd language, isn't it? They use a verb of state - to be - as a verb of action - to go!
It'd be pointless to change that wretched habbit.
TO BE can be used instead of TO GO or TO COME in some particular conditions.
Rather than saying "I was to Japan last summer", I'd say "I went to Japan last summer."
But I may say I've never been to Japan.
I have come here some years ago - or - I've been here yet.
I've been to Japan lately - or - I've gone to Japan lately.

[C eargerly W]

You might be interested in learning how that wretched habbit set up in the language. Here you are:
Once upon a time, Jean Marron bought a return ticket from SF to NY by the famous Greendog Bus Lines. The outward journey lasted three days or so. As soon as the bus had driven into the New-York Bus Station and as Jean stepped off he could hear the last call for boarding the bus to NY he had booked in SF. Jean headed right on to the departure wharf and boarded the bus.
Three days later as he came back to the Delavigne offices, Polly asked him: Haven't you been to NY?
- Oh yes, I've been IN New-York for a while.
- So you've been TO New-York, Jean.
Jean thought he had to correct his bad American lingo and said to himself "I've been TO NY". He translated it in his native French thinking to himself "J'ai été à NY." That's how French has been infected by the bad habbits of American, and as an fallout it infected a lot of close languages. Maybe yours, reader.

That's an odd language, isn't it? They use a verb of state - to be - as a verb of action - to go! 
 It'd be pointless to change that wretched habbit. 
 TO BE can be used instead of TO GO or TO COME in some particular conditions. 
 Rather than saying "I was to Japan last summer", I'd say "I went to Japan last summer." 
 But I may say I've never been to Japan. 
 I have come here some years ago - or - I've been here yet. 
 I've been to Japan lately - or - I've gone to Japan lately.  
 
 
 [C eargerly W]  
 
 
 You might be interested in learning how that wretched habbit set up in the language. Here you are: 
 Once upon a time, Jean Marron bought a return ticket from SF to NY by the famous Greendog Bus Lines. The outward journey lasted three days or so. As soon as the bus had driven into the New-York Bus Station and as Jean stepped off he could hear the last call for boarding the bus to NY he had booked in SF. Jean headed right on to the departure wharf and boarded the bus. 
 Three days later as he came back to the Delavigne offices, Polly asked him: Haven't you been to NY? 
 - Oh yes, I've been IN New-York for a while. 
 - So you've been TO New-York, Jean. 
 Jean thought he had to correct his bad American lingo and said to himself "I've been TO NY". He translated it in his native French thinking to himself "J'ai été à NY." That's how French has been infected by the bad habbits of American, and as an fallout it infected a lot of close languages. Maybe yours, reader.

Tony Tagada

User since 2008
Posts: 12

20 Aug. 2009

Yes I agree,
Thanks

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