[Grammar] The Great Pyramid has been built

[Matthew Wai]

1. The Great Pyramid has been built in Egypt.
2. The Great Pyramid was built in Egypt millennia ago.


Are they grammatical?

 

[bhaisahab]

The first one is incorrect.

 

[emsr2d2]

If someone decided to build a replica of the Great Pyramid, you would be able to say (soon after it was completed), "A replica of the Great Pyramid has been built in Egypt". It doesn't work if you are just trying to say that the Great Pyramid is located in Egypt.

 

[Matthew Wai]

This page says "Use the Present Perfect to talk about actions that happened at some point in the past. It does not matter when exactly they happened".
Since the pyramid was built in the past, why can't the present perfect be used in #1?

 

[tzfujimino]

Let's imagine:

If someone said to you, "I/They have build the Great Pyramid in Egypt", would it sound natural to you?
It sounds as if it(=the act of building it) had occurred/happened in the recent past, doesn't it?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Let's imagine: If someone said to you, "I/They have build the Great Pyramid in Egypt"?

tzfujimino, I can't imagine how the pyramid builders could still be alive and say it to me, unless they were immortal.

It sounds as if it(=the act of building it) had occurred/happened in the recent past, doesn't it?

This page says "It does not matter when exactly they happened", so I guess it doesn't matter whether it happened in the recent past or millennia ago. Do I guess wrongly?

 

[Rover_KE]

Those of us who have replied so far disagree with what you have read on 'this page'.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Not only this page(1).
This page(2) says "an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important. "
This page(3) says "It is not important when we did it"
This page(4) says "Unspecified point in the past".

Do all of you disagree with all of them? Last time 5jj told me to be cautious about Chinese sites, does this caution apply to English sites too?

 

[Roman55]

...so I guess it doesn't matter whether it happened in the recent past or millennia ago. Do I guess wrongly?

I am not a teacher.

What do you mean by this constant use of "guess"? Do you apply the same meaning to it each time?

Is it "think", "conclude", "suppose", "surmise"? I'm just guessing.

 

[bhaisahab]

At 2 on this page http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html it says this: "With Non-Continuous Verbs and non-continuous uses of Mixed Verbs, we use the Present Perfect to show that something started in the past and has continued up until now."
As far as I'm aware the building of the Great Pyramid has not continued up until now.

 

[Tdol]

This page says "It does not matter when exactly they happened", so I guess it doesn't matter whether it happened in the recent past or millennia ago. Do I guess wrongly?

There has to be some sort of connection to now- the connection to now of the Great Pyramid is the fact that it's still standing, not the construction. The construction belongs only to the past.

 

[Barb_D]

Here are some VERY general guidelines from a non-teacher who can't quote sources but just observes.

Use the present perfect if:
1) It is very recent news: The Mets have won the World Series! (Said as the team is jumping up and down on the field.)
2) It is connected to the present conversation/situation: Have you fed the dogs? Yes, I've fed them.
3) It was started in the past and continues to this moment: I've worked here (or I"ve been working here) since June.
4) It was at a non-defined time in the past and it could still happen again: Oh, I've eaten at that restaurant. It's good.

In general, if it can no longer happen again, and/or has no connecting to the current situation use the simple past.
The restaurant is now closed: Oh, I ate there once It was good. Too bad it closed.)
I now work somewhere else: I worked there.
The person is dead: I knew him for 25 years
I no longer travel: I went to France, but I never got to see the Louvre


EDITED to change "past" to "present" - written in error and hopefully without causing too much confusion.

 

[Matthew Wai]

I am not a teacher. What do you mean by this constant use of "guess"?

I will say "guess" if I am not sure about what I am going to say. For example, I guess you don't have to say "I am not a teacher" when you are asking a question.

 

[Roman55]

I am not a teacher.

Maybe it's because I am English that I follow blindly, without thinking, the posting guidelines,

If you are not a teacher, you will need to state that clearly at the top of your post.

OR, maybe it's just easier to always have that phrase at the top of my posts so I don't have to worry about forgetting it.
Did you ask Barb_D about her signature too?

 

[5jj]

We ask people to state that they are not a teacher when responding to a question in this 'Ask a Teacher' forum. There is no need if you are asking a question, but it does no harm at all. And, as Roman said, if it's always there you don't have to worry about forgetting it.

 

[5jj]

Last time 5jj told me to be cautious about Chinese sites, does this caution apply to English sites too?

Yes, of course it does. Any Tom, Dick or Harry can set up a site and give the impression of being an expert. Those site you linked us to did not seem bad, but they were a little superficial.

We don't claim to be infallible here, but the regular responders have more than a couple of hundred years' teaching experience between them, quite apart from their academic and teaching qualifications. We also have people with experience outside teaching, doctors, vets, engineers writers, etc. And, the great advantage of this forum is that you don't have to just take the word of the first person to respond. If one of us happens to give a suspect answer, there are plenty of other people to pick it up.

 

[Barb_D]

Indeed, we don't let each other get away with giving answers we disagree with. We try to do it politely, but I know I have certainly said things that were wrong and have been corrected. Sometimes, I wrote the wrong thing because I was careless. But there have been times when I was simply mistaken. The best thing you can do is say "I didn't know that. Thanks for correcting my mistake before other learners took away wrong information." (Or your own version of those words.)

 

[Raymott]

This page says "Use the Present Perfect to talk about actions that happened at some point in the past. It does not matter when exactly they happened".
Since the pyramid was built in the past, why can't the present perfect be used in #1?

Because that site is very basic, and does not list all the necessary information.
I also wouldn't trust it, because it has no apparent author, no date, there's no indication at all of what authority is behind it. Apparently you can leave a comment there, but you have to subscribe to read comments. Maybe you should post your question on the site?