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Guest Posted 22 years ago
Grammar

Why cant i use I've been with a specific time reference?

the sentence to fix was

i've been to china last year.

i fixed it by writing "I went to china last year"

i have to explain the error, in my gramar book it says, you cannot use I've been with a specific time reference.
why cant you ?
is this true?
please help?
  

Top answer

You're right to be confused. The grammar book is wrong. " Is that specific enough?

— Pedant

  • You're right to be confused.
  • The grammar book is wrong.
  • " Is that specific enough?
  • To give the book some credit, although specificity isn't the issue, time is.
  • The present perfect tense ("have been") describes action that is now complete.
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4 Answers
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You're right to be confused. The grammar book is wrong. You can, for example say "I've been in China for five days, thirteen hours, forty minutes, and twelve seconds." Is that specific enough? To give the book some credit, although specificity isn't the issue, time is. The present perfect tense ("have been") describes action that is now complete. So as long as your specific time reference i
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treat present-perfect as indefinite-past(past without a definite time point/interval).
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enkatesu, can you please explain that better
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