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Slocawber Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
It's been on the bestseller list for five months
Good morning. If you hear a sentence like that, does it mean that a book is still in the bestseller list or is it a description of what happened in the past? Thank you.
Top answer
Generally speaking, the use of the present perfect in such sentences tells us that the action/state started in the past and continued right up to the present. It does not tell us whether, in fact, it continues into the present. However in this case, being on the best-seller list appears to be flexible enough to allow us to assume the book is still on the list.
- Generally speaking, the use of the present perfect in such sentences tells us that the action/state started in the past and continued right up to the present.
- It does not tell us whether, in fact, it continues into the present.
- However in this case, being on the best-seller list appears to be flexible enough to allow us to assume the book is still on the list.
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1 Answers
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Generally speaking, the use of the present perfect in such sentences tells us that the action/state started in the past and continued right up to the present. It does not tell us whether, in fact, it continues into the present.
However in this case, being on the best-seller list appears to be flexible enough to allow us to assume the book is still on the list.
However in this case, being on the best-seller list appears to be flexible enough to allow us to assume the book is still on the list.
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