When have you ever been to a wedding

Forums: English, Grammar, Esl
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I thought a common mistake made in English grammar is like this:

*When have you ever been to a wedding.

It's wrong because it entails an ungrammatical answer:

* I have been to a wedding in March.

The correct way should be:

-Since when have you not been to a wedding/ When was the last time you attended/went to a wedding.

But at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvRL8VYH6Rc

at 3:50 the robot clearly says the supposedly wrong sentence; did I learn the wrong thing?

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[+3] - izzythepush - 06/09/2013[i]When have you ever been to a wedding[/i] implies that the person you're speaking to is not the sort of person who gets invited to weddings.

@WBYeats,

That's all a bit mixed up, WB

...and most of it is wrong or ungrammatical, except for

Quote:

When was the last time you attended/went to a wedding.

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@WBYeats,

When have you ever been to a wedding implies that the person you're speaking to is not the sort of person who gets invited to weddings.

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@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

I thought a common mistake made in English grammar is like this:

*When have you ever been to a wedding.

The only "mistake" there is the lack of a question mark. ("?")

We ask a question with 'ever' in the form "When have you ever [done something]?", "When have you ever seen [something]?" etc when we wish to express doubt or disbelief that thing mentioned has ever happened or could happen.

Quote:

It's wrong because it entails an ungrammatical answer:

* I have been to a wedding in March.

Why are you telling us it's "wrong"? There is nothing ungrammatical about that answer. He has been to a wedding in March.

Quote:

The correct way should be:

-Since when have you not been to a wedding/ When was the last time you attended/went to a wedding.

That is nonsense. You have a long way to go in your English studies before you will be qualified to make such authoritative statements.

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Thanks all~ I've really learned a lot from you~

For the CORRECT WAY SHOULD BE mentioned by Contrex, I didn't mean to make authoritative statements.... Sorry for being so if it doesn't sound good.... But that was what I learned and I believed that video is correct and I was wrong, so I started the post. In my posts, I very often want to tell native speakers what I have learnt by giving some examples, which might be incorrect so that you can correct me; in my future posts, if native speakers find any sentences I write are incorrect, please tell me~; again, thanks all.

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@contrex,

WBYeats:

Quote:

It's wrong because it entails an ungrammatical answer:

* I have been to a wedding in March.

Contrex:

Quote:

Why are you telling us it's "wrong"? There is nothing ungrammatical about that answer. He has been to a wedding in March.

Perhaps, WB feels it's wrong because of things like this;

Conversely, the present perfect does not allow the use of time adjuncts referring to the past.

*We have finished our work last week. (incorrect)
We finished our work last week.

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I think the point lies here:

-I have been to [a wedding in March]. (no past time reference
-* I [have done it yesterday]. (with past time reference

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

-I have been to [a wedding in March]. (no past time reference

Unless this answers the question,

Have you ever been to a wedding in the month of March?

it still contains a past time adjunct, WB.

These are used on rare occasion but native speakers are highly reluctant to do so.

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Thank you, JTT.

QUOTE:
These are used on rare occasion but native speakers are highly reluctant to do so.

Do you mean native speakers are reluctant to use SINCE WHEN?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

No, native speakers are highly reluctant to use an adverbial past time adjunct with the present perfect.

1 Reply

@JTT,

Thank you, JTT.

So you think

-He has been to a wedding in March.

is grammatical but unusual?

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@WBYeats,

WBYeats wrote:

Thank you, JTT.

So you think

-He has been to a wedding in March.

is grammatical but unusual?

Your choice of example wording is a possible problem. "I have been to a wedding in March" would be an unusual thing to say because weddings in March are fairly commonplace, and we tend to use the "Have you ever..." formulation when we are asking about something which might be rare or unusual or doubtful. "Have you ever seen a swallow in February?" is definitely a possible question, and equally possible answers might be "I have seen a swallow in February." or "I have never seen a swallow in February."

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Oh I see.

Thank you, C.

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

So you think

-He has been to a wedding in March.

is grammatical but unusual?

This example wouldn't be at all unusual if it was a present perfect of experience.

There is a difference between a present perfect of experience and a present perfect of current relevance.

More later. Please feel free to ask any questions you have.

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In 'the Arcadian Deer':

-'Gone away a long time ago, she has.'

I read it as 'She has gone away a long time ago', with a past time phrase. Is it correct?

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@WBYeats,

Quote:

In 'the Arcadian Deer':

-'Gone away a long time ago, she has.'

I read it as 'She has gone away a long time ago', with a past time phrase. Is it correct?

'she has' has been transposed. That's done sometimes in English.

Went away, she did.

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Thank you, JTT.

Must WENT AWAY be substituted?

1 Reply

@WBYeats,

Quote:

Must WENT AWAY be substituted?

I don't understand what you mean, WB.

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Sorry, let me make it clear....

For ''She has gone away a long time ago'', must we use WENT AWAY to replace HAS GONE AWAY? because I thought 'a long time ago' forbids the present perfect~

2 Replies

@WBYeats,

"she went away" refers to an event.

"she has gone away" refers to her location/ current state/ absence.

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When have you ever been to a wedding

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