grammatical?

[ostap77]

"How long do you have to have been working until you can get a mortgage?"

Would this sentence be grammatical? If not, how would it sound using proper grammar?

[5jj]

"How long do you have to have been working until you can get a mortgage?"

Would this sentence be grammatical? If not, how would it sound using proper grammar?

The verb form is grammatically acceptable but a bit cumbersome. I think we'd be more likely to say : 'How long do you have to work ...?' I'd use 'before' rather than 'until'.

[ostap77]

The verb form is grammatically acceptable but a bit cumbersome. I think we'd be more likely to say : 'How long do you have to work ...?' I'd use 'before' rather than 'until'.

Would this sentence sound OK to you?

"How long must you have been a US citizen to be President?"

[Gillnetter]

Would this sentence sound OK to you?

"How long must you have been a US citizen to be President?"

The sentence sounds fine to me but the question is wrong. Being born in the US is a prime requirement for a person to become the President.

[5jj]

The sentence sounds fine to me but the question is wrong. Being born in the US is a prime requirement for a person to become the President.

Does that mean that an American citizen, offspring of two American citizens, who happens to be born abroad cannot become president?

[ostap77]

The sentence sounds fine to me but the question is wrong. Being born in the US is a prime requirement for a person to become the President.

1)What would you say about the sentence in post #1 from the US part?

2) I would gladly accept advice from any instructor on teaching staff. Could I say " You need to have been living in Ukraine for 5 years to become a Ukraine national"?

[bhaisahab]

1)What would you say about the sentence in post #1 from the US part?

2) I would gladly accept advice from any instructor on teaching staff. Could I say " You need to have been living in Ukraine for 5 years to become a Ukraine nationa."?

"...to become a Ukrainian national" would be most likely I think.

[Gillnetter]

Does that mean that an American citizen, offspring of two American citizens, who happens to be born abroad cannot become president?

Good question. "No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."

The matter of what this really means has been somewhat accepted this way: "The Constitution does not define the phrase natural-born citizen, and various opinions have been offered over time regarding its precise meaning. The Congressional Research Service has stated that the weight of scholarly legal and historical opinion indicates that the term means one who is entitled under the Constitution or laws of the United States to U.S. citizenship "at birth" or "by birth," including any child born "in" the United States (other than to foreign diplomats serving their country), the children of United States citizens born abroad, and those born abroad of one citizen parent who has met U.S. residency requirements