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Hi,could someone check these little dialogues and comment on them? I really hope there are some mistakes. In some cases, I added a comment:- How's the weather there?- Very nice, but it's been raining for almost a week until about three hours ago.- What's the weather like there?- Very nice now, but it's been raining for a couple of days.- How's the weather over there?- It's been raining. &lt;-- is this a good answer or is it ambiguous? If it's good, what does it mean?- How's the weather over there?  - It's been raining for a couple hours.&lt;-- is this a good answer or is it ambiguous? If it's good, what does it mean?Thank you in advance.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

I really hope there are some mistakes. So you are trying to make mistakes?

- How's the weather there?

- How's the weather there?
- Very nice, but it's been raining for almost a week until about three hours ago.

- Very nice, but it's been raining for almost a week. It stopped about three hours ago.

- What's the weather like there?
- Very nice now, but it's been raining for a couple of days. OK

- How's the weather over there?
- It's been raining. <-- is this a good answer or is it ambiguous?Sometimes it's good for an answer to be ambiguous.

Yes, it is a bit ambiguous. Maybe it is still raining. probably not.

If it's good, what does it mean? It suggests it rained recently but it's not raining right now.

- How's the weather over there?
- It's been raining for a couple of hours. <-- is this a good answer or is it ambiguous It's still raining.

Best wishes, Clive

Kooyeen · Answer

Hi Clive,
thanks a lot, I understand. Not everything though...

I undestand that...

It's been raining.<-- it's ambiguous. It could be raining or not, but you would tend to think it's not raining anymore.
It's been raining for... <--- it's still potentially ambiguous, but adding a period of time makes you assume it's still raining.

- Is that the way you interpret those answers?
- Do you think other natives are likely to interpret them differently, since those answer are ambiguous?
- If a native said one of those, would they always add more information or would they answer ambiguously that way?

Sorry if this looks like a poll to you...

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

I understand that...

It's been raining.<-- it's ambiguous. It could be raining or not, but you would tend to think it's not raining anymore.
It's been raining for... <--- it's still potentially ambiguous, but adding a period of time makes you assume it's still raining.

- Is that the way you interpret those answers? More or less.
- Do you think other natives are likely to interpret them differently, since those answer are ambiguous? I doubt it. Ask them.

- If a native said one of those, would they always add more information or would they answer ambiguously that way? Consider that when we say such things, the listener often does not care much about the details of the situation and it's not important. If someone said this to me and my life depended on understanding the intended meaning clearly, I'd ask more questions, eg Is it raining right now?

How's the weather where you live? Here, it's about 8 degrees and a sunny Fall day. The leaves on the trees have all changed to a wide variety of beautiful colours. It's been raining this month, more than last month.

Clive

Kooyeen · Answer

I see... kind of complicated... we will see if I face weird problems in the future. Thanks! <img class='emoticon' style='Width:19px;Height:19px;' data-delaysrc='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' src='https://uat-englishforward-forums-backend.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Emoticons/1.gif' alt='Emotion: smile'/>

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