Guest  +  42269 Sun, 15 Aug 04 03:03 AM I have studied Spanish here in Chili. I have lived in this city and know it well. I have shouted at you for 10 minutes and you haven't reacted at all yet. They have shot at us for 15 minutes. Have I stopped studying Spanish? Have I stopped living in this city? Have I stopped shouting at you? Have they stopped shooting at us? Guest

	miriam  +  42272 Sun, 15 Aug 04 03:11 AM Hi, Guest. It's difficult to give precise answers to your questions because you posted isolated sentences. Responses might vary according to the context. Can you give us some context for your sentences? Miriam miriam Joined on Mon, May 10 2004 Argentina Regular Member 821 "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." Plato

	CalifJim  +  42275 Sun, 15 Aug 04 03:14 AM I get it. We're supposed to guess what the question is! OK. I love puzzle games. I'll bet the questions are: "Are all of these sentences in the present perfect?" (yes) and "Are they all correct?" (yes). I'm stunned to see, however, that you don't spell Chile correctly, because if the sentences are drawn from real life, you are in that country this very minute! CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,389 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche Present Perfect

	miriam  +  42277 Sun, 15 Aug 04 03:29 AM The sentences are grammatically correct, yes. But the Guest's questions remain unanswered. We don't know if they are still studying, living in a certain city, shouting or being shot. That's why I asked for context. Let's take one (any) of the sentences: "I have shouted at you for 10 minutes and you haven't reacted at all yet." The Guest's question was: "Have I stopped shouting at you?" And the truth is that it's not possible to answer that question after reading the sentence. I've shouted at you for 10 minutes. Perhaps I've stopped now and I'm speaking to you calmly. But perhaps I'm still shouting. Again, the sentences are correct from a grammatical point of view. What we cannot tell, however, is whether they are "appropriate" or not. That will depend on the situation in which the sentences are used. And, also depending on the situation, a change of tense might be needed. Miriam miriam Tenses

	CalifJim  +  42287 Sun, 15 Aug 04 03:50 AM You are truly clairvoyant if you understood that the questions were real questions and not just more example sentences! I thought they were attempts to transform declaratives into interrogatives! CalifJim