Someone has died??

[terrenziqq]

There should be no denying that "Someone has been dead." is correct.
However, I was taught numerous times that "someone has died." is totally wrong because that means the person has kept undergoing death since some moment. That explanation sounds reasonable to students and I have believed it to be true for ten more years. But today I watched the news (News from the U.S.) and heard the anchor say a star "has died". Could this be acceptable for most native speakers? Could any one explain it for me? Thx...

[RonBee]

It is certainly true that once you have died it is difficult to do anything else. We had this question before not long ago, and I advised the questioner to say "X died" instead of "X has died". After that I saw at least a couple of times "So and so (celebrity) has died" and I have decided that if you want to say "has died" go right ahead.

[BobK]

'There should be no denying that "Someone has been dead." is correct.'

Says who? It's occasionally appropriate (when followed by an adverb phrase): 'Handel has been dead for many years, but his music lives on.'

b

[albeit]

Originally Posted by terrenziqq

There should be no denying that "Someone has been dead." is correct.
However, I was taught numerous times that "someone has died." is totally wrong because that means the person has kept undergoing death since some moment. That explanation sounds reasonable to students and I have believed it to be true for ten more years. But today I watched the news (News from the U.S.) and heard the anchor say a star "has died". Could this be acceptable for most native speakers? Could any one explain it for me? Thx...

This is the Present Perfect of currentness/importance/hot news. For many past actions, in this case, the one of dying, though it only happens once and it happened in the past, we use the present perfect to show that it's important to now.

The news often makes use of this structure to make the news more right now, important, current. After all, all news is finished and to headline it in the simple past would make it blaaaaahhhhhh.

[Student, with a difficult assignment to do meets a friend they haven't seen for a few weeks]

Student A: Finally, I've finished my homework!!

Student B: That's grand. When did you get it done?

Student A: Just a few days after I last saw you, that'd be about two and a half weeks ago.

[albeit]

See also,

http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/as...about-ive.html

[dragn]

However, I was taught numerous times that "someone has died." is totally wrong because that means the person has kept undergoing death since some moment.

No it doesn't, as has been ably explained. Nobody actually came right out and stated it in so many words, but just be aware: you were simply taught wrong on this point.

Greg

P.S. Well, whatever you do, don't make the mistake 95% of students in Taiwan seem to make: somebody was died, to which my favorite reply is "Really? Who died him?"

Greg

[BobK]

>somebody was died, to which my favorite reply is "Really? Who died him?"

This reminds me of an Alan Coren article in Punch, in which Idi Amin said 'They will be suicided.'

b