Re: present perfect and short answer

Originally Posted by
English4everyone
So we say "who hasn't had lunch yet?" and the short naswer is "he has" not "he hasn't". Why? I think because the verb is negative, the short answer must be negative too.
If 'he' has had lunch, then the response is "He has (had lunch". If 'he' hasn't had lunch, then the answer is "He hasn't' (had lunch).
And when we say "Who isn't at home?", what is the correct short answer? "Mat isn't" or "Mat is"?
If Mat is not at home, then the answer is "Mat isn't (at home)" - or just "Mat".
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Context is always important; labelling is rarely important.