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Nkspb Posted 11 years ago
Grammar
The usage of tense with "This is the * time" ?
Hello! Could you explain to me, please, the logic behind the sentence:
"It's the third time she's been skating this week."
?
Using the Present Perfect Continues is confusing to me, because, as I know, this tense is used for long actions that started before the moment of speaking and continued/are continuing till now.
Maybe the tense is used here because there's nothing to substitute it with - for instance, the Past Simple is wrong not only because of the "this week" part, but also because of the phrase "It's the third time" which shows connection to the present. So, only perfect tenses are left to use, therefore we choose the perfect continuous tense rather then the perfect tense to emphasize duration?
Do I get it correctly?
"It's the third time she's been skating this week."
?
Using the Present Perfect Continues is confusing to me, because, as I know, this tense is used for long actions that started before the moment of speaking and continued/are continuing till now.
Maybe the tense is used here because there's nothing to substitute it with - for instance, the Past Simple is wrong not only because of the "this week" part, but also because of the phrase "It's the third time" which shows connection to the present. So, only perfect tenses are left to use, therefore we choose the perfect continuous tense rather then the perfect tense to emphasize duration?
Do I get it correctly?
Top answer
In your sentence, "she's been skating" is not actually present perfect continuous. ) Instead, yours is a present perfect form of "go skating" ("skating" functions as a noun), in which the normally expected "gone" idiomatically changes to "been". The present perfect is used here for repeated action in the past, similar to "It's the third time she's telephoned this morning".
- In your sentence, "she's been skating" is not actually present perfect continuous.
- ) Instead, yours is a present perfect form of "go skating" ("skating" functions as a noun), in which the normally expected "gone" idiomatically changes to "been".
- The present perfect is used here for repeated action in the past, similar to "It's the third time she's telephoned this morning".
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15 Answers
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In your sentence, "she's been skating" is not actually present perfect continuous. (A true example of present perfect continuous would be "She's been skating non-stop for two hours, and now she's exhausted".) Instead, yours is a present perfect form of "go skating" ("skating" functions as a noun), in which the normally expected "gone" idiomatically changes to "been". The present perfect is used he
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Thanks!
"It's the third time she telephoned this week." ?
Does it have any difference in meaning from the original sentence?
And what is correct here:
"It was the third t
GPYThe present perfect is used here for repeated action in the past,Could you clarify, please, is it correct to use the Past Simple in such sentences:
"It's the third time she telephoned this week." ?
Does it have any difference in meaning from the original sentence?
And what is correct here:
"It was the third t
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GPYIn your sentence, "she's been skating" is not actually present perfect continuous.
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nkspbCould you clarify, please, is it correct to use the Past Simple in such sentences:"It's the third time she telephoned this week." ?Does it have any difference in meaning from the original sentence?It would be understood to mean the same, but "has telephoned" sounds better.
nkspbAnd what is correct here:"It was the thir
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CalifJimThat's the oddest use of a noun I've ever seen.I don't see why. To me it means "go (and do the activity of) skating".
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GPYI don't see why.I've already addressed that. 'go' isn't transitive.
GPYTo me it means "go (and do the activity of) skating".To me as well, but this is a horse of a different color. Now 'skating' is the object of 'do'.
CJ
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GPYWhat do you think "skating" is then?Beats me! It's the object of the missing verb 'do', isn't it? I thought we had come to some agreement on this.
CJ
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CalifJimBeats me! It's the object of the missing verb 'do', isn't it?So are you agreeing that it's a noun?
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GPYSo are you agreeing that it's a noun?As the plain fact of what part of speech it is, "gerund" would be better, but I suppose "noun" is good enough. The problem is that in the context this came up, I think we have to caution the reader that it's not the object of "go". Something much weirder is going on in that construction.
CJ
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