An argument about the english language

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

I dunno...I have been confused the English for a long time.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

It makes sense to me. But then, I tend to phrase things oddly at times. It's just a personal thing too, Canadian English is my first language.

 

[Danpascooch]

For a while now me and a friend from Ireland have been having an argument about a sentence he once said to me. Now in my opinion I do not believe his sentence is worded properly, though he is adamant that he is right and that the sentence is perfectly fine. I cannot really explain what is wrong with the sentence so I wanted others opinions on what people thought.

This is the sentence:

'Some people have been finished their exams since Thursday.'

Please help us resolve this debate.

It is not correct, because the phrase "have been" must be followed by an adjective and not a verb unless it is a verb in the PRESENT tense and not the PAST tense.

I know that sounds complicated, here are some examples:

"They have been dead (adjective) for 20 years" is an example of correct use.

"They have been jumping (present tense verb) around for 2 hours" is another correct usage.

"They have been ate (past tense verb)" would be incorrect.

I hope that clears it up, to be frank "have been" should never really be used, since the rules governing correct usage are so convoluted.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"They have been ate (past tense verb)" would be incorrect.

I hope that clears it up, to be frank "have been" should never really be used, since the rules governing correct usage are so convoluted.

Not really. "Have been ate" would be wrong, but there is a way to make it work and still have a past tense verb. "Have been eaten" would be the correct form, at least if you meant something along the lines of "Some people have been eaten by dinosaurs since we opened the time gate." Stylistically, it would be better to write it as "The dinosaurs ate some people after we opened the time gate," but neither sentence is technically incorrect. "Eaten" is the same conjugation of "to eat" as "finished" is of "to finish," so a proper form of the OP's sentence would be "Some people have been finished with their exams since Thursday," although a better way of writing the same information would be "Some people finished their exams on Thursday."

 

[Danpascooch]

"They have been ate (past tense verb)" would be incorrect.

I hope that clears it up, to be frank "have been" should never really be used, since the rules governing correct usage are so convoluted.

Not really. "Have been ate" would be wrong, but there is a way to make it work and still have a past tense verb. "Have been eaten" would be the correct form, at least if you meant something along the lines of "Some people have been eaten by dinosaurs since we opened the time gate." Stylistically, it would be better to write it as "The dinosaurs ate some people after we opened the time gate," but neither sentence is technically incorrect. "Eaten" is the same conjugation of "to eat" as "finished" is of "to finish," so a proper form of the OP's sentence would be "Some people have been finished with their exams since Thursday," although a better way of writing the same information would be "Some people finished their exams on Thursday."

Exactly my point, if you read what you quoted again, I specifically listed "have been ate" as an example of incorrect usage.

"Have been eaten" would be using an adjective, which I specified as correct use (these people are described as "eaten" by some unknown entity)

 

[steampunk42]

its correct save there should be a "with" after "finished"

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

"They have been ate (past tense verb)" would be incorrect.

I hope that clears it up, to be frank "have been" should never really be used, since the rules governing correct usage are so convoluted.

Not really. "Have been ate" would be wrong, but there is a way to make it work and still have a past tense verb. "Have been eaten" would be the correct form, at least if you meant something along the lines of "Some people have been eaten by dinosaurs since we opened the time gate." Stylistically, it would be better to write it as "The dinosaurs ate some people after we opened the time gate," but neither sentence is technically incorrect. "Eaten" is the same conjugation of "to eat" as "finished" is of "to finish," so a proper form of the OP's sentence would be "Some people have been finished with their exams since Thursday," although a better way of writing the same information would be "Some people finished their exams on Thursday."

Exactly my point, if you read what you quoted again, I specifically listed "have been ate" as an example of incorrect usage.

"Have been eaten" would be using an adjective, which I specified as correct use (these people are described as "eaten" by some unknown entity)

We may be agreeing on the same thing, just in a different way. I never connected "eaten" to being an adjective, but then they don't really teach this stuff in the schools over here. Regardless, if "eaten" is being used as an adjective in the sentence I wrote, then "finished" is being used as one in the OP's sentence. The English language is a horrible mishmash of other languages, so it makes sense that none of the rules make sense.

PS: I just looked up "adjective" on wikipedia. We are agreeing, you just missed the fact that "finished" is both a past tense verb and an adjective, depending on how it is used -- while I missed the definition of adverb, because they barely teach this stuff in the public schools in Florida, and pretty much skip adjectives and adverbs completely. In the op's post, it is an adjective, but there's a missing word needed to make the sentence correct. (And this is why I'm going to school to teach History, not English.)

 

[MiserableOldGit]

The tense is all messed up - "Some people have.." suggest present tense (have can be used in both past and present), while 'been' is definitely being used in the past tense.

"Some people have already finished their exams" would be correct.