Sentence correction

Question

Is this written correctly?It has been three months since my bike was stolen.

Ozzourti · Accepted Answer

Yes.

Anonymous · Answer

ozzourtiYes.

Thanks. How about if I use 'has been' after 'since' as well?

It has been three months since my bike 'has been' stolen.

Would that be possible as well? If not, why?

Ozzourti · Answer

That doesn't really work. "... since my bike was stolen (by X)" is a passive form of "... since X stole my bike." You wouldn't say "It has been three months since X has stolen my bike"—the act of stealing occurred at a specific point in the past (three months ago).

Anonymous · Answer

ozzourtiThat doesn't really work. "... since my bike was stolen (by X)" is a passive form of "... since X stole my bike." You wouldn't say "It has been three months since X has stolen my bike"—the act of stealing occurred at a specific point in the past (three months ago).

Thanks. So just to confirm, it is not possible because the act of stealing occurred at a specific point in the past and not during a period of time, which is what the present perfect conveys. Have I understood correctly?

For example, you can't say he has stollen my bike three months ago. It should be, he stole my bike three months ago. Right?

But you can say: he has stollen my bike (without a specific time) or he stole my bike three months ago. Would that also be correct?

I hope what I said was correct!

Fivejedjon · Answer

Yes
Yes
Yes

Note the spelling of stolen.

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