'gone to' or 'been to'?

[Heterological]

If you are being in the place A and say to a friend of yours by phone : "I have gone to A for 2 days".
So, what is illogical here ?

Generally, you "go" somewhere else. Wherever you are, you haven't "gone" there; you've "come" there (or you "are" there.) If you go someplace, you start at the present location and travel to another place. So wherever you are, from your perspective, you didn't "go" there, because "there" is "here."

However, you could be speaking in terms of the other person's perspective. If another person were talking about you to someone else, he or she would certainly say, "Person X has gone to..."

It sounds like a rule more closely followed in England than in the U.S., though.

[bertietheblue]

However, you could be speaking in terms of the other person's perspective.
.

And, as I commented, that's why in BrEng it would be perfectly natural to say to someone on the mobile when they ring, wondering where you are, "I've gone to ...", in the sense of away from the person you're talking to, eg "I've gone to the supermarket" (whether you are at the supermarket now or are on the way), or to write to a lover, "I've gone away for good and won't be coming back!" And, indeed, it would be possible to say "I've gone" if you are talking face to face with someone and are viewing events from a third person's perspective, eg talking to your sister: "I've left him! I've gone away for good and there's no way I'm going back."

[philo2009]

Dear teachers,

Is the question 'have you ever gone to the Taipei City Zoo' asking about the same thing as 'have you ever been to the Taipei City Zoo'?

Thank you!

ps. 'Taipei City Zoo' is a place in the city where I live

Yes. BrE speakers tend to use only 'been to', while AmE speakers use both.

[joemayerich]

Ok, but if you add "ever," the point you made about the person not having returned yet seems irrelevant. No?

If you are being in the place A and say to a friend of yours by phone : "I have gone to A for 2 days".
So, what is illogical here ?
What do you think if I understand the above sentence as that I started to go but I am still going after 2 days , I haven't finished the action "go to the place A". So this sentence is incorrect. And we must use "come to" or "been to" instead ?

If the above idea is wrong, I think you can use "gone to" when talking about other person in appropriate context, but you should use "been to" or "come to" instead when talking about yourself.


Please give me your comments.
Thank you !

If you are being in the place A and say to a friend of yours by phone : "I have gone to A for 2 days". So you are talking on the friend at the present time and you want to use the present perfect tense? We use the Present Perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time BEFORE now. The exact time is not important. Have gone is Present Perfect so you can't use that tense when talking to your friend and letting them know where you are at the present time.

[crazYgeeK]

Generally, you "go" somewhere else. Wherever you are, you haven't "gone" there; you've "come" there (or you "are" there.) If you go someplace, you start at the present location and travel to another place. So wherever you are, from your perspective, you didn't "go" there, because "there" is "here."

However, you could be speaking in terms of the other person's perspective. If another person were talking about you to someone else, he or she would certainly say, "Person X has gone to..."

It sounds like a rule more closely followed in England than in the U.S., though.

Suppose that my friend is in the place B where I left from. Can he ask me by phone: "How long have you gone to ...?" ? (I mean to him, I have "gone to" not "come to").
Although using "been to" sounds better to me in this case, but I think we can use "been to", "come to" or "gone to".

The difference here is the action "gone to" can last for a certain duration of time. And the two others start and finish at a same point of time. I think this is the reason we can't use "gone to" (as some ones posted).
Thank you !

[Heterological]

Suppose that my friend is in the place B where I left from. Can he ask me by phone: "How long have you gone to ...?" ? (I mean to him, I have "gone to" not "come to").
Although using "been to" sounds better to me in this case, but I think we can use "been to", "come to" or "gone to".

Actually, I don't think the construction you've written works for either "gone to" or "been to." What is the friend asking, exactly? Does he want to know when your trip began? If so, he should say, "how long ago did you go to...?" or "when did you go to...?" or "how long have you been in...?" Does he want to know how long your trip will last? In that case, he should say, "for how long are you going?" or, less elegantly, "how long are you going for?"

[crazYgeeK]

I meant my friend wants to know when my trip began.
If "been to" doesn't work so the "come to" doesn't work too, does it?
I still don't understand why "been to" doesn't work in my construction, although I think it is grammatically correct, isn't it? Or is it wrong semantically ?
I'm not sure how difficult for you to explain more so that I can understand well. Is this problem explainable ?
Thank you so much !

[SoothingDave]

See the problem when we've all gone etc. etc.