is or has?

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Nightmare85

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Hello,
I don't know if I have to use is or has in these sentences.
A screenshot is taken, you will be reported.
A screenshot has taken, you will be reported.

He is fallen (died).
He has fallen (died).

The vehicle is not respawned yet.
The vehicle has not respawned yet.


I'm not even sure if I need a been either.
Normally, I would have used all 1st sentences, but I guess all 2nd ones are correct.

Cheers!
 

bhaisahab

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Hello,
I don't know if I have to use is or has in these sentences.
A screenshot is taken, you will be reported.
A screenshot has taken, you will be reported. Both of these are strange.

He is fallen (died). This means "dead".
He has fallen (died).

The vehicle is not respawned yet.
The vehicle has not respawned yet.
What do you mean by "respawned", is this in connexion with a video game?

I'm not even sure if I need a been either.
Normally, I would have used all 1st sentences, but I guess all 2nd ones are correct.

Cheers!
.
 

Abstract Idea

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Hello,
I don't know if I have to use is or has in these sentences.
A screenshot is taken, you will be reported. ---> no
A screenshot has taken, you will be reported. ---> no

He is fallen (died). ---> no
He has fallen (died). ---> yes

The vehicle is not respawned yet.
The vehicle has not respawned yet.


I'm not even sure if I need a been either.
Normally, I would have used all 1st sentences, but I guess all 2nd ones are correct.

Cheers!


Contrary to German, in English one uses only the auxiliary verb "to have" to form the present perfect - always. And the passive voice is constructed with the verb "to be" - always too. No exceptions here.

So:
He has fallen. (Probably he didn't die, only fell)
A screenshot was taken, you will be reported. (This is passive voice, someone took the screenshot)

I don't know what respawned means (please tell me), but if vehicles can respawn, that is, vehicle is the subject in your sentence, then the correct reads "The vehicle has not respawned yet". On the other hand, if something or someone can respawn a vehicle, than the correct is "The vehicle is not respawned yet (by someone or something).

If you want to use both present perfect and passive voice in the same sentence, than you may say:

A screenshot has been taken, you will be reported.


PS Not a native speaker
 

bhaisahab

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Contrary to German, in English one uses only the auxiliary verb "to have" to form the present perfect - always. And the passive voice is constructed with the verb "to be" - always too. No exceptions here.

So:
He has fallen. (Probably he didn't die, only fell)
A screenshot was taken, you will be reported. (This is passive voice, someone took the screenshot)

I don't know what respawned means (please tell me), but if vehicles can respawn, that is, vehicle is the subject in your sentence, then the correct reads "The vehicle has not respawned yet". On the other hand, if something or someone can respawn a vehicle, than the correct is "The vehicle is not respawned yet (by someone or something).

If you want to use both present perfect and passive voice in the same sentence, than you may say:

A screenshot has been taken, you will be reported.


PS Not a native speaker
Have a look at this link yminsky: AskOxford: fallen
 

Nightmare85

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Thank you!

Sorry about the "respawned", yes, it's in games.
Objects spawn (appear) and when they get taken or destroyed, they spawn again after a while -> respawn.

Okay, as I have already guessed, I won't have success with "is" :)

Cheers!
 

Barb_D

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Funny that this would be posted Easter Monday, when "He is risen!" is such a common thing to say -- the last holdout from when there were verbs that did take "to be."
 

Abstract Idea

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but if vehicles can respawn, that is, vehicle is the subject in your sentence, then the correct reads "The vehicle has not respawned yet". On the other hand, if something or someone can respawn a vehicle, than the correct is "The vehicle is not respawned yet (by someone or something).

I would like to correct a mistake of mine: in both situations "the vehicle" is the subject (no matter whether active or passive voice). What I wanted to mean is: if "the vehicle" can respawn, that is, it can perform the action of "respawn", than you may use the active voice: "the vehicle has not respawned yet". But if "the vehicle" suffers the action, that is, if it can be respawned (by someone or something), then you may use the passive voice version: "the vehicle has not been respawned yet." The point is not whether "the vehicle" is the subject, rather whether it performs or suffers the action.

A screenshot is taken, you will be reported.
A screenshot has taken, you will be reported.

He is fallen (died).
He has fallen (died).

The vehicle is not respawned yet.
The vehicle has not respawned yet.

The sentence "The vehicle is not respawned yet" is wrong because of the verbal tense. The sentence is in the simple present, so the use of "yet" is not appropriate. On the other hand "The vehicle has not respawned yet" is OK.

To summarize, note that there are three distinct cases in your examples:

(1) Present perfect (always formed with the auxiliary "have" plus past participle.
1a) The window has broken. (here "broken" is the past participle "break" which works as an intransitive verb)
1b) The vehicle has spawned.
1c) He has fallen.
1d) He has risen from the dead.

(2) Passive voice
2a) The window was broken. (Here "broken" is the past participle of "break" which works as a transitive verb (someone broke the window.))
2b) The vehicle has been spawned.
2c) He was risen by his Father.

(3) Verb to be + adjective
3a) The window is broken. (here "broken" is an adjective)
3b) Christ is risen!
3c) He is not fallen.

(Regarding your original post I said that "He is fallen" was incorrect - I was wrong as Bhaisahab pointed out, it is correct, but "fallen" works as an adjective - like "He is dead".)

Two final notes:

N1 The situations (1) and (2) above are not mutually exclusive, you can use the passive voice and present perfect at the same time as in "A screenshot has been taken" or "The vehicle has been respawned." Those are the situations you have to use "been".

N2 There are situations in which it is difficult to decide whether the construction follows (2) or (3) above. For instance "It is done." You may interpret it as a passive voice (someone did it) or you may say that "done" works as an adjective - that is the way it is, it is "done".

PS Not a native speaker
 

Abstract Idea

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Have a look at this link yminsky: AskOxford: fallen

Thank you bhaisahab. I wasn't aware of this meaning. It is good to be always learning something new.

Just to confirm:
"He is fallen" and "He has fallen" are both correct but have different meanings, right?
Namely the first one means "He is dead" while the second one means just the usual action of falling in the present perfect - is that so?
 

Abstract Idea

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Funny that this would be posted Easter Monday, when "He is risen!" is such a common thing to say -- the last holdout from when there were verbs that did take "to be."

Good Easter for you Barb_D ! And for all posters of UsingEnglish!

So you mean in some situations of old English the present perfect was formed with the verb "to be" instead of "to have", like in German? Although I do not know old English, I think I have already heard this.

But in this example "He is risen!" isn't it the case to say that "rise" works as an adjective? Do you claim that here we have the last holdout of a "real" present perfect formed with "to be"?
 

Abstract Idea

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Thank you!

Sorry about the "respawned", yes, it's in games.
Objects spawn (appear) and when they get taken or destroyed, they spawn again after a while -> respawn.

Okay, as I have already guessed, I won't have success with "is" :)

Cheers!

Hmm "respawn"!! I knew I had already seen this word. It is in everyone's "/etc/inittab". I mean everyone who uses linux. In this common important file to all linux systems there are lines which read:
1:2345:respawn:/sbin/mingetty tty1
That is the login prompt keeps respawning all the time, waiting for someone to log in. Just take a look at yours.

Spawn can be a noun or a verb, take a look for instance at:
spawn: Definition, Synonyms from Answers.com
 

bhaisahab

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Thank you bhaisahab. I wasn't aware of this meaning. It is good to be always learning something new.

Just to confirm:
"He is fallen" and "He has fallen" are both correct but have different meanings, right?
Namely the first one means "He is dead" while the second one means just the usual action of falling in the present perfect - is that so?
Not exactly, "he has fallen" can also mean that he has died in battle. This use of "fallen" is fairly archaic.
 

Abstract Idea

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Funny that this would be posted Easter Monday, when "He is risen!" is such a common thing to say -- the last holdout from when there were verbs that did take "to be."

So you mean in some situations of old English the present perfect was formed with the verb "to be" instead of "to have", like in German? Although I do not know old English, I think I have already heard this, but I would like someone to confirm (or deny) it.

Regarding this specific example "He is risen!" isn't it the case to say that "risen" works as an adjective? Do you claim that here we have the last holdout of a present perfect formed with "to be"?
 

Raymott

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Yes. Occasionally you will find the present perfect being formed with "to be" with verbs like this. However, I can't think of any examples where you could not replace it with 'to have', and you will never have to use it yourself.
It's archaic, but you don't have to go back to Old English. It was normal in Middle English and persists, as you observe, in some set phrases and poetical contexts in Modern English.

About "He is risen", I think it's more convincing as a present perfect sentence, the same as "He is fallen."
You are right insofar as a Lord who is/has risen is a risen Lord.
Comrades who have/are fallen are fallen comrades.
 
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