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Whatchadoin Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

Has happened

That has happened to me before. - Does this mean that that particular thing has happened to the speaker only once?

I've done that before. - How about this one? Does this one mean that the speaker has done that only once in his lifetime?

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Not necessarily. There are no indications in the sentences that tells us how many times the action or event occurred in the speaker's life. The default meanings are, of course, that the experiences took place at least once.

— RandomGuy

  • Not necessarily.
  • There are no indications in the sentences that tells us how many times the action or event occurred in the speaker's life.
  • The default meanings are, of course, that the experiences took place at least once.
  • For more specificity, you would need the word once.
  • That has happened to me once before.
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1 Answers
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Not necessarily. There are no indications in the sentences that tells us how many times the action or event occurred in the speaker's life. The default meanings are, of course, that the experiences took place at least once.

For more specificity, you would need the word once.

That has happened to me once before.
I've done that once before.
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