How long have you been here? vs How long are you here for?

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Anonymous

#363013 Thu, 10 May 07 04:10 PM

Hi, Smile [:)]

I am currently doing an exercicse on Present Perfect and don't quite understand the answer given by the key. I am supposed to pick one answer from between two given; the answers are next to a photograph of two people, I think, at an airport. One of them is holding luggage and the other seems to have just come to at the airport. They are shaking hands, and have happy faces. Above them, there is a sign that says; arrivals.

Now the answers to choose:

How long have you been here?
How long are you here for?

I'd pick the 1st one as the are still at the airport and the person with the luggage has been waiting there for some time. Answer number two suggests to me something more or less like; how long are you staying here, is this really what we want to know here?. Hmm [^o)] Could someone please shed some light on the matter?

Thank you,

Tom

NB: I quoted from First Certificate; Language Practise with key by Michael Vince, p.9

Anonymous

Numbers, Present Perfect

Grammar Geek

#363026 Thu, 10 May 07 05:01 PM

#2 is what they want. The person with the luggage has just arrived. He is starting his visit, and generally, the time you are at an airport is not signficant compared to the length of your entire stay at your destination.

Your interpreation is an interesting one. If the picture had shown the person with the luggage looking angry and pointing to his watch, then "How long have you been here (at the airport, waiting for me to come pick you up)?" would work. Generally, use the more simple explanation - he has just arrived and is just beginning his trip.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

Veteran Member (16,084)

Barbara, who answers in American English.

Goodman

#363057 Thu, 10 May 07 06:03 PM

With the description your have given, # 1 is the right answer. Perhaps, the 2^nd answer may come up as the conversation carried on….

Goodman

Joined on Mon, Nov 7 2005

Calif. USA

Senior Member (3,247)

The name says it all!

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CalifJim

#363088 Thu, 10 May 07 07:53 PM

Quite a puzzler. People don't normally arrive at the airport to pick someone up not knowing how long the guest will be staying If I were going to visit someone, I would assume that we had all prearranged how long my visit would last. These considerations in mind, the second choice seems absurd.
Yet, in the absence of anything to show that the guest had been waiting for very long, the first choice is a little strange as well. Hmm [^o)]

I am currently doing an exercicse on Present Perfect

They want you to answer with the choice that contains the present perfect - the first one! They are assuming that both choices may (erroneously) be taken to mean the same thing because the second choice is the way you say the first choice in some other languages. (Since how long are you here? is fairly close to what you say in certain European languages to indicate the meaning in English How long have you been here?) They don't want you to think of the actual idiomatic meaning of the English How long are you here for? in the sense of how long you will be staying. They want to trick the speakers of Romance languages into translating literally from their own languages and thereby choosing the wrong answer!

The test item seems more Eurocentric than it needs to be. And the interference with the actual meaning of the second choice, for those students who know it, weakens the effectiveness of the item even more.

That's my interpretation and I'm sticking to it! Smile [:)]

CalifJim

Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004

California

Veteran Member (17,732)

"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche

Present Perfect

Grammar Geek

#363101 Thu, 10 May 07 08:37 PM

CJ, you're brilliant! I wouldn't have thought of mistranslation. And I never noticed the "exercise on present perfect." Embarrassed [:$] Good thing you're around.

(I get to see people who are in town for business for a tiny social visit, so the thought of not knowing how long the person was in town for didn't seem that odd. It would be if that person was going to be my guest, of course.)

Grammar Geek

Present Perfect, Translation

CalifJim

#363104 Thu, 10 May 07 08:42 PM

Brilliant? I don't know. Maybe persistent is more like it! I went around in circles on that one for quite a while until I reread the question from the beginning. Smile [:)]

Jim

CalifJim

Anonymous

#363114 Thu, 10 May 07 09:17 PM

Thank you all for the answers. Smile [:)]

I took into consideration that it can be mistranslated by Romance languages speakers (as well as by Slavs, btw).

Jim, what you wrote was more or less my thoughts, and I whole-heartedly concur with you, but there's one thing that's been bugging me; the key says the sentence #2 is correct. Sad [:(] I did pick the first one while doing the exercise, and was quite flabbergasted to see that the solution is different (I checked a few times to convince myself if it really was the one).

Tom

Anonymous

CalifJim

#363129 Thu, 10 May 07 10:14 PM

was quite flabbergasted

Wow! Well, join the club! (of the flabbergasted) I'm going to guess that it's a misprint in the answer key.

CJ

CalifJim

Yankee

#363212 Fri, 11 May 07 03:29 AM

As we see from the posts in this thread, there are arguments for both 1 and 2. I have to admit, though, my first reaction was exactly the same as GG's -- because, like GG, I also am familiar with airport pick-ups for which "How long are you here for" would not be an unusual question. On the other hand, if my flight had arrived very late, one of the first things I might say to the person picking me up is "How long have you been here?" Tongue Tied [:S]

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,301)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain