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Reply With QuoteThe first is fine. However, if you are talking about needing to leave before your host is bored with your presence, we have a set phrase for that - "We need to leave before we outstay our welcome".Originally Posted by CarloSsS
I would be inclined to reword the second completely to "I have to finish my homework within two hours of arriving here".
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- 16-Feb-2013, 17:42 #1
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before I have been Is the following structure acceptable? What worries me is the usage of present perfect with the preposition "before". On the other hand, I cannot come up with anything better that would convey the same meaning.
We need to leave before we have been here too long.
I have to finish my homework before I have been here for two hours.
Are both of the sentences natural?I'm not a teacher, or a native English speaker. Feel free to edit my posts if you encounter any mistakes in them (be it grammatical or vocabular). It'll help me to improve my command of English.
- 16-Feb-2013, 17:45 #2
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Re: before I have been Remember - correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing make posts much easier to read.
- 16-Feb-2013, 17:56 #3
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Re: before I have been That's interesting. They are essentially the same structure, yet the latter is unnatural? Why is that? Is it because of the time adverbial (two hours)? Can anybody think of an example with "before I have been here for xxx" that would sound natural?
I'm not a teacher, or a native English speaker. Feel free to edit my posts if you encounter any mistakes in them (be it grammatical or vocabular). It'll help me to improve my command of English.
- 16-Feb-2013, 18:12 #4
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Re: before I have been That's rather a leap. Originally Posted by CarloSsS Context is important. Please provide enough for us to be able to deal effectively with your question.
Your thread title should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.
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- 16-Feb-2013, 18:14 #5
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Re: before I have been I see, so the latter could be used? Originally Posted by 5jj I'm not a teacher, or a native English speaker. Feel free to edit my posts if you encounter any mistakes in them (be it grammatical or vocabular). It'll help me to improve my command of English.
- 16-Feb-2013, 18:24 #6
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Re: before I have been It's possible.
Context is important. Please provide enough for us to be able to deal effectively with your question.
Your thread title should include all or part of the word/phrase being discussed.
If you just want to know the meaning of a word, try OneLook Dictionary Search first.
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