grammatical?

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ostap77

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"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

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"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

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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?"
 

5jj

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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

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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"?
 
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bhaisahab

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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.
 
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