[Grammar] I have graduated from college since then/2011.

[Phaedrus]

I'm afraid you have't convinced me of the 'radical ambiguity' of the sentence you produced.

He has eaten meat since he was a little boy.
Interpretation 1: He has eaten meat from when he was a little boy up to now.
Interpretation 2: It has happened that he has eaten meat since he was a little boy.

Has he eaten meat for his whole life, or has he eaten hardly any meat in his whole life?

 

[Matthew Wai]

It does not suggest repeated graduation to me, and it seems from comments on this thread that it does not suggest this to other native speakers.

It doesn't suggest so to you possibly because repeated graduation is not very likely in real life, I think, as repeated death is not very likely in "He has died since 2011".

the OP seems to have lost interest after post #19.

The OP has lost interest because the teachers are more interested in arguing with each other than in answering the OP's questions.

 

[jutfrank]

The OP has lost interest because the teachers are more interested in arguing with each other than in answering the OP's questions.

We have answered the OP's questions. We're quite rightly trying to justify our answers, like any good teacher would do.

 

[Matthew Wai]

It seems that no teachers have answered the following questions. Have I missed something?

Does (a) mean (a1) or (a2)?

(a1) The city has been changing greatly continuously since 2012.
(a2) The city changed greatly after 2012.

Does (b) mean (b1) or (b2)?

(b1) I have been changing my address continuously since last year.
(b2) I changed my address after last year.

 

[kadioguy]

the OP seems to have lost interest after post #19.

I have to admit that I thought your discussions were too complicated to me. But now I am determined that I will try my best to understand all of these, for you all have spent so much time on my thread.

It seems that no teachers have answered the following questions. Have I missed something?

No, you haven't.:-?

 

[kadioguy]

Your original post correctly indicated that a and b were unproblematic.

Pardon me, I don't understand why "... has/have changed greatly since 2012" doesn't cause any problems, whereas "... has/have graduated from college since 2011" does.

 

[kadioguy]

Having read the teachers' opinions, I think both are possible.

Do you think this is also the case for (b1) and (b2)?

 

[Matthew Wai]

Pardon me, I don't understand why "... has/have changed greatly since 2012" doesn't cause any problems, whereas "... has/have graduated from college since 2011" does.

Change is likely to be continuous, but graduation is not that likely to be so. That is the problem.

 

[kadioguy]

Change is likely to be continuous, but graduation is not that likely. That is the problem.

Do you mean whether (a) means (a1) or (a2), they are all reasonable? But even so, (a1) and (a2) are different in meaning. How can a reader choose between them?

 

[Matthew Wai]

It is ambiguous, as is the following example:

"I have visited India since 2011" can mean either that I've been there at least once since then or that I've been in the habit of visiting India since then.

 

[Phaedrus]

Change is likely to be continuous, but graduation is not that likely to be so. That is the problem.

One could also say that great change over time usually implies a succession of little changes. Have you ever returned to a town or city that you haven't visited for years? The sentence "The town has changed greatly since you were last here" is just the type of sentence that one's friends or relatives might utter shortly after greeting you. The sentence doesn't call attention to a succession of changes, but rather to the difference between how the town looked when you were last there and how it looks now.

 

[Matthew Wai]

(a1) and (a2) are different in meaning. How can a reader choose between them?

I think we should focus on the result of the change rather than how it (has) changed—changing continuously, a single change, or a few changes. However it (has) changed, the result is that it is now greatly different from what it was in 2012. That is the point.

I don't understand why "... has/have changed greatly since 2012" doesn't cause any problems, whereas "... has/have graduated from college since 2011" does.

You should have understood why if you had paid attention to the Chinese text in your screenshot in post #1.
「非延續性動詞」= "non-continuous verbs", which refers to "graduate" in your example.

 

[kadioguy]

You should have understood why if you had paid attention to the Chinese text in your screenshot in post #1.
「非延續性動詞」= "non-continuous verbs", which refers to "graduate" in your example.

But I would think "graduate" and "change" are both "non-continuous verbs". In my opinion, they are the same kind of verb.

(In Chinese: I would think "graduate" and "change" are both「發生的瞬間就結束了」. In fact, the Chinese text in my screenshot in post #1 says 「『有的』非延續性動詞...」(this means some verbs do, but some don't); however, it don't explain why. I think this is the problem.

 

[Phaedrus]

I agree with everything Piscean has said above (in post #58). In post #55, I said that "great change over time usually implies a succession of little changes." I would like to clarify that that is just from a pragmatic standpoint, with cities in mind. And it is only with "normal" city change in mind (buildings getting built and so forth). I did not intend to deny the possibility of fairly instantaneous large-scale change to cities (via atomic bombs, tsunamis, and the like).

From a linguistic standpoint, however, it is clear that the verb "change" in "The city has changed greatly" refers to a (durative) process. Certain linguistic tests can be used to show this. For example, we can say, "The city has stopped changing"; "The city has changed (or been changing) for a long time." But it sounds very strange to say thing like ? "He stopped graduating from college" and ? "He stopped reaching the top" (which only make sense on a habitual reading). "Graduate" and "reach" are punctual.

The sentence "The city has changed greatly since 2012" is talking about the extent to which the city has undergone the process of change between 2012 and now.

'Change' can be be a momentary thing, as when a magician passes his hand over a king of clubs and it changes into an ace of hearts, but it is normally a process that can take a period of time, sometimes years.

It seems to me that (b) ("I have changed my address since last year") is a case of "change" being used punctually (i.e., in a verb phrase that represents the situation to which it refers as punctual). While it might take time to type an address into a computer, the transition from one address to another in a computer is instantaneous. I think that "He is changing his address with the post office" can only refer to the preparatory phase, not to the transition itself, which the VP "change one's address" denotes.

In conclusion, I venture to assert that "The city has changed greatly since 2012" is durative and that "I have changed my address since last year" is punctual.