Have you ever been to vs Have you ever gone to

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Anonymous

#212913 Thu, 06 Apr 06 11:07 AM

Hi all,

I don't know whether this kind of questions have ever been asked before, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

So, Here's my questions.

1) I have been to Paris.-- correct

2) I have gone to Paris. -- incorrect.

I know that the first sentence is correct while the second is not.

Then What about the following two sentences?

3) How long have you been to Australia?

4) How long have you gone to Australia?

Is Sentence 4) correct? I usually use sentence 3) but not quite sure about sentence 4).

One more... Is sentence 6) wrong? I kinda saw this sentence sometimes on the web.

5) Have you ever been to a convert?

6) Have you ever gone to a concert?

Thank you for your time.

Anonymous

milky

#212942 Thu, 06 Apr 06 02:14 PM

Number 2 is correct if the person is still in Paris. Number 4 would be correct if you add "for" and the person was still in Australia at the time of asking..

How long have you gone to Australia for?

For how long have you gone to Australia?

For me, 6 is incorrect.

milky

Joined on Thu, Jan 15 2004

Senior Member (3,149)

Hume said that if we had perfect or complete descriptive knowledge of reality, we could not, by reasoning, derive a single valid "ought".

Numbers

pieanne

#212949 Thu, 06 Apr 06 02:25 PM

Thinking [*-)] I would prefer 3. with "in": "How long have you been in Australia?"... But maybe both versions are correct?

pieanne

Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005

South of France ...But I'm Belgian!

Veteran Member (7,512)

I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

milky

#212974 Thu, 06 Apr 06 04:17 PM

Pieanne wrote:

I would prefer 3. with "in": "How long have you been in Australia?"... But maybe both versions are correct?

Nope, 4, as it stands, is incorrect.

milky

pieanne

#212982 Thu, 06 Apr 06 05:07 PM

I did mean in 3., not 4.

pieanne

MrPedantic

#213053 Thu, 06 Apr 06 11:37 PM

I don't find #6 objectionable in the right context:

6a. Have you ever been to a concert where the pianist dropped dead during the encore? Well, I have.

6b. Have you ever gone to a concert and found yourself wishing you could leave after the first five minutes? Well, I have.

6a seems to present the death of the pianist in relation to the speaker's "now"; 6b seems to present the desire to leave in relation to the "going to the concert".

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,166)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

milky

#213054 Thu, 06 Apr 06 11:38 PM

Pieanne wrote:

I did mean in 3., not 4.

3 is incorrect as it stands.

milky

Clive

#213062 Fri, 07 Apr 06 12:13 AM

Hi,

A small further note. In very, very general terms, 'to have been to' just states that 'I was present in the place', whereas 'to go to' expresses some sense of purposeful movement. eg

If my plane made an unplanned stop in London, I might later say 'I have been to London', but I probably wouldn't say 'I went to London'.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive