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GCheng620 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Just wanna make sure if my notion is right

It's usually "What HAVE you BEEN up to lately?" instead of
"What ARE you up to lately?", right?
The latter just doesn't sound right because the speaker's referring to a whole period of time instead of a certain point of it.

Hope I'm not wrong.
  

Top answer

'Wanna' is not a word. It is a quasi-phonetic transcription of spoken pronunciation and unacceptable when examining the language with care.

— Mister Micawber

  • 'Wanna' is not a word.
  • It is a quasi-phonetic transcription of spoken pronunciation and unacceptable when examining the language with care.
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6 Answers
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'Wanna' is not a word. It is a quasi-phonetic transcription of spoken pronunciation and unacceptable when examining the language with care.
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GCheng620It's usually "What HAVE you BEEN up to lately?" instead of
Yes.
What have you been up to lately?
What are you up to these days?
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Blue Jay GCheng620It's usually "What HAVE you BEEN up to lately?" instead ofYes. What have you been up to lately?What are you up to these days?
Can't believe I have been all wrong all these years!
But just want to stress the point that I I seldom hear people use the to-be verb when they use adverbs like "lately" and "recently"?
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GCheng620But just want to stress the point that I I seldom hear people use the to-be verb when they use adverbs like "lately" and "recently"?
I suppose you mean the present tense of 'be'. Note that Americans often use the simple past with recently and lately.
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Mister Micawber GCheng620But just want to stress the point that I I seldom hear people use the to-be verb when they use adverbs like "lately" and "recently"?I suppose you mean the present tense of 'be'. Note that Americans often use the simple past with recently and lately.
You mean if it was in simple past form (such as "was" and "been"), they must not be ref
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'Have you been' is also the 'be' verb, so your earlier statement was inaccurate.
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