Has been dead/has died problem

Question

My father [ has been dead/ has died ] for two years.The correct answer is has been dead.. but why has died is incorrect?

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Anon:
You can write:
My father has been dying for two years. (i.e. He has a fatal disease and is very sick, and the doctors say he has not much time to live.)

You can also write:
My father has died. (He died recently.)

I have studied grammar for two years.

Dying is a one-time event. It cannot happen for two years.
Studying grammar can occur over two years. It takes a long time to learn grammar.

To be dead means not to be alive. Someone can be dead for a very long time.

Yankee · Answer

Hi Anon

When you say "My father has been dead for two years", that means that your father died two years ago. The word 'dead' is an adjective that describes a state.

Saying "My father has died for two years" doesn't make sense because that would basically mean that your father has died more than one time. It sounds like you mean that your father died repeatedly/many times during the last two years. But people only die once.

Anonymous · Answer

But you wouldnt say "has been cried" or "has been smiled"

AlpheccaStars · Answer

"Smiled" and "cried" cannot be used in the passive form because these dynamic verbs do not customarily take an object. They are not used as adjectives.

"Cry" does sometimes take the object tears, (She cried bitter tears.) but when we say the passive (Tears have been cried, ) we use a different verb (Tears have been shed...)

To use the passive you have to change these intransitive verbs somehow into a transitive form. These phrasal verbs will work:

His grave has been cried over by all his decendents for a hundred years.
The fortunes of the company have been smiled on by the fates.

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousbut why is "has died" is incorrect?

Several factors conspire to create an incorrect sentence here.

*My father has died for two years.

1. die is an achievement verb. (That is, it signals the end point of a process.)
2. has died is the present perfect tense.
3. When an achievement verb is used in the present perfect tense it expresses an action that took place at a point in time -- almost in no time at all.

4. The sentence contains for two years, which says that the action continued over a period of two years.
5. It is therefore a contradictory sentence. It says that some action took place both instantaneously and over a long period. You can't have both!

Similarly pathological examples are:

*The plane has landed for an hour.
*The bus has arrived for 20 minutes.
*I have recognized my mistake for three hours.
*Larry has finished his project for two years.
*Danielle has signed the document for several days.

You can correct them all by removing the for phrases.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousBut you wouldnt say "has been cried" or "has been smiled"

cried and smiled are verb forms. dead is an adjective. Adjectives after has been are fine.

has been dead
has been cheerful
has been sad

CJ

Fatpoisson · Answer

I have questions about" had been dead for two years" or " was dead for 2 years" in 2009
here is situation that two people were talking about someone's father who was dead in 2007
so one of them said that " his father had been dead for two years" or "was dead for 2 years"

which one should be right?

CalifJim · Answer

FatpoissonI have questions about" had been dead for two years" or " was dead for 2 years" in 2009here is situation that two people were talking about someone's father who was dead in 2007so one of them said that " his father had been dead for two years" or "was dead for 2 years" which one should be right?

It's hard to follow what you're saying. Suppose that the father died in 2007. Then suppose that you are now (in 2014) talking about something that happened in 2009, for example, that the father's wife sold the house that they used to live in.

She sold the house in 2009, you know. At that time her husband had been dead for two years.

CJ

Fatpoisson · Answer

For what reason we can't say at that time her husband was dead for two years?

CalifJim · Answer

FatpoissonFor what reason we can't say at that time her husband was dead for two years?

Consider these:

She was pregnant for nine months ~ There were nine months during which she was pregnant. (After that she gave birth and was no longer pregnant.)
They traveled in Europe for three weeks ~ There were three weeks during which they traveled in Europe. (After that they went home.)
He was at college for two years ~ There were two years in the past during which he was at college. (After that he finished college and possibly got a job.)

Now can you answer your question?

Her husband was dead for two years ~ There were two years in the past during which her husband was dead. (After that he was no longer dead. He came back to life and possibly became an actor.)

CJ

Has been dead/has died problem

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions