IS “are gone” grammatically correct?

Question

I often see “is gone” or the like. Is that grammatically correct? When do we use “is gone” or “are gone” instead of “has gone” and “have gone”?

Can we do the same on all intransitive verbs? So they’re not in passive voice.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

anonymousI often see “is gone” or the like. Is that grammatically correct?

Yes. "gone" = "not here".

In general we use "is/are gone" when "gone" means "not here", and we use "has/have gone" when we say where we've gone or when we're using an idiom like "to go mad", "to go crazy".

The boss is gone. / The boss has gone out of town on business.
The rest of them are gone. / The rest of them have gone to lunch.
The kids were gone. / The kids had gone to get some ice-cream.
Sue's mother left for Chicago. She's already gone. / Since Ed heard the news about the award, he has gone crazy.

anonymousCan we do the same on for all intransitive verbs?

No, no, no! "gone" is a special case.

CJ

IS “are gone” grammatically correct?

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