have died

[Nefertiti]

1. She has died.

2. She has been dead for several years.

3. She has died for several years.

4. Any better suggestions?


Pick the appropriate choice(s). Please explain.

Thanks

[rj1948]

1. She has died.

2. She has been dead for several years.

3. She has died for several years.

4. Any better suggestions?


Pick the appropriate choice(s). Please explain.

Thanks
2
2)correct.
The other two are wrong.
Died-past tense.Has died.Wrong.

Regards,
rj1948.

[RonBee]

"She has died" says that not only has she done it before but that she might do it again. (Highly unlikely!)

She has been dead for several years.

or

She died several years ago.

"She has died for several years" says to me that she did it before and there is the possibility that she will do it again. Also, she has experience at it, so she might be good at it.

[tzfujimino]

"She has died" says that not only has she done it before but that she might do it again. (Highly unlikely!)

I'm really sorry to barge in.
What about...."She has(just) died (of canser)"
Is it possible? (I think so...)

[hotmetal]

Hello again tzfujimino!

She has just died of cancer (with a c) is possible. "Has just" is a valid formulation.
But like RonBee says, "has died" would indicate that this change of state is not permanent. There is only one valid case for this when talking about a person, and that is Jesus. In Christianity, we believe that Christ died, was resurrected and will come again. So the Church has a liturgy that reads "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Obviously this cannot apply to ordinary mortals, so generally it is wrong.

There is a slight exception, and that is when talking informally about machines. It is perfectly possible to say "My computer has died" or "My car has died". This is because it is not a living thing and so has not really died. It is simply a more dramatic way of saying "My computer suddenly stopped working" but can be fixed.

[engee30]

If you really think that saying somebody has died is wrong, I am absolutely stunned by that.
It's not only in liturgy that you can hear the words has died. In everyday life people use the same words to put more emphasis on the event of somebody's leaving this world.
I'm a church-goer and I know exactly that the priest uses the present perfect simple form of die to refer to the very recent death of a person:

Let's pray for those who have died (recently), [name], [name], [...]
or
Let's pray for those who died, [name], [name], [...]

Instead of saying Mrs Chapman died, you might as well say Mrs Chapman has died, and you know why.

[hotmetal]

engee30. You are absolutely right. When I said "generally it is wrong" I was referring back to the original formulation in Nefertiti's post:
3. She has died for several years.

Clearly, that use is wrong. Perhaps I should have worded my reply more completely. Somebody has died is perfectly acceptable as you rightly point out, and indicates that this is a recent event. What I meant is that you cannot die for several years and then come back to life. Also you cannot say that someone has died several years ago. In that case you would say someone died several years ago (without the 'has').
Hopefully that clears up any misunderstanding.

[engee30]

I wish I could believe your words, hotmetal.

...
So the Church has a liturgy that reads "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again." Obviously this cannot apply to ordinary mortals, so generally it is wrong.

You could have been referring to that particular sentence, but your opinion on this matter is more general than that concerning the sentence in question.

[riverkid]

1. She has died.

2. She has been dead for several years.

3. She has died for several years.

4. Any better suggestions?


Pick the appropriate choice(s). Please explain.

Thanks

In context, numbers 1 & 2 are fine. It's possible that number 3, changed a bit,

3. She has been dying for several years.

could be used in a figurative sense.

[hotmetal]

I wish I could believe your words, hotmetal.



You could have been referring to that particular sentence, but your opinion on this matter is more general than that concerning the sentence in question.

Please do not assume that I am trying to tell anyone what to believe. I have not expressed an opinion, but that was the only context in which someone could die and then live again that I could think of. I understand that not everybody is a Christian! It is not a question of whether or not Christian beliefs are right or not, merely an example to illustrate the grammatical improbability. Personally speaking though, I hope those words are true! But this forum isn't the place for religious discussion.