I've been practicing all weekend.

[Marika33]

This is an excerpt from Larry King's book, How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere, pages 22-23.

"Good morning. This is my first day ever on the radio. I've always wanted to be on the air. I've been practicing all weekend. Fifteen minutes ago they gave me my new name. I've had a theme song ready to play. But my mouth is dry. I'm nervous. And the general manager just kicked open the door and said, 'This is a communications business.' "

As far as I'm concerned, the fact that Larry uses the perfect accept there tells us that it is still weekend at the time (He may or may not be still practicing, though (link). But it is still the weekend).

I'm guided by information taught by one native English teacher. He said that if it was still morning, native speakers would use "How's your morning been?" instead of "How was your morning?", and if the morning was finished, they would use otherwise, "How was your morning?" instead of "How's your morning been?".

So one thing is clear, when Larry King said that sentence on the air, it was still the weekend, but please tell which one would native speakers say in (almost) the same situation but if it wasn't weekend anymore?

• 0. I've been practicing all weekend. (It is still the weekend)
• 1. I practiced all weekend. (It's Monday morning or Tuesday evening, anything but not the weekend any longer)
• 2. I was practicing all weekend. (It's Monday morning or Tuesday evening, anything but not the weekend any longer)

If both are possible, could you please explain what the difference between them would be in this context?

"Good morning. This is my first day ever on the radio. I've always wanted to be on the air. I practiced all weekend./I was practicing all weekend. Fifteen minutes ago they gave me my new name. I've had a theme song ready to play. But my mouth is dry. I'm nervous. And the general manager just kicked open the door and said, 'This is a communications business.' "

 

[SoothingDave]

"I was practicing all weekend" would be most natural.

 

[5jj]

"I was practicing all weekend" would be most natural.

I agree, but:

As far as I'm concerned, the fact that Larry uses the perfect accept there tells us that it is still weekend at the time (He may or may not be still practicing, though (link). But it is still the weekend).

Not necessarily. It could, just about, be Monday morning.

So one thing is clear, when Larry King said that sentence on the air, it was still the weekend,

Not necessarily, as I mentioned above.

You still seem to be trying to find absolute rules. As we have told you before, there are very few when it comes to English tenses/aspects.

 

[Marika33]

You still seem to be trying to find absolute rules. As we have told you before, there are very few when it comes to English tenses/aspects.

Maybe. The thing is I've been taught that if it was still morning, native speakers would use "How's your morning been?" instead of "How was your morning?", and if the morning was finished, they would use otherwise, "How was your morning?" instead of "How's your morning been?", so I've made a conclusion and I've never been told there may be exceptions and I could use the perfect tense "How's your morning been?" even after the morning is over.

As far as I'm concerned, the fact that Larry uses the perfect accept there tells us that it is still weekend at the time

So one thing is clear, when Larry King said that sentence on the air, it was still the weekend

Not necessarily. It could, just about, be Monday morning.

Thank you very much! I didn't know about it. So, this line "I've been practicing all weekend" could be naturally said even if it wasn't the weekend any longer. Very interesting (because this is something I didn't know)! But, one very important question immediately arises: Where is the line?

Since you said "It could, just about, be Monday morning", I now believe the morning of the next day is fine, but what about the evening of the next day? In this case, it would be Monday evening. What about Tuesday morning/evening? And so on? Could, for example, this line be said on Tuesday evening? A person gets on the air on Tuesday evening (after spending the whole weekend practicing, but all Monday and Tuesday morning he was very busy) for the first time and says "This is my first day ever on the radio. I've always wanted to be on the air. I've been practicing all weekend." Where is the line? I think this is very important and intetersting question, especially for those trying to understand the logic behind the English grammar.

 

[5jj]

Maybe. The thing is I've been taught that if it was still morning, native speakers would use "How's your morning been?" instead of "How was your morning?", and if the morning was finished, they would use otherwise, "How was your morning?" instead of "How's your morning been?", so I've made a conclusion and I've never been told there may be exceptions and I could use the perfect tense "How's your morning been?" even after the morning is over.

Your original question was not about 'morning'. You can't always assume that what is true of one time expression is true of all.

Where is the line?

There is no rule set in concrete. 'morning', for example, could end as early as 11.30 and end as late as 13.30 in informal conversation. Not many of us check our watches to see when we should switch from 'morning' to 'afternoon'.

I think this is very important and intetersting question, especially for those trying to understand the logic behind the English grammar.

This is not a question of grammar, but of custom and usage.

 

[Marika33]

This is not a question of grammar, but of custom and usage.

What's the meaning behind these words? What did you want to say with them? How was that supposed to help me?

Could we just focus on the question, please? Maybe I should have put it differently to help you better grasp it:

1.

• How has your morning been?/How was your morning?

Can/Should I use the perfect aspect here if:
A: It's still the morning (11.30 or 13.30 in informal converstation).
B: The morning is over, it's clearly afternoon now.
C: The morning is long over, it's evening now.

2.

• I've been practicing all weekend./I was practicing all weekend.

Can/Should I use the perfect aspect here if:
A: It's still the weekend (possibly 20.00 or 23.00 of Sunday).
B: The weekend is over, it's Monday morning.
C: The weekend is over, it's Monday evening.
D: The weekend is over, it's Tuesday morning.
E: The weekend is over, it's Tueday evening.


As you said here, it doesn't necessarily have to still be the weekend, it could, just about, be Monday morning, but the question is: where's is the line? How far could native speakers go from the time reference of the sentence with the perfect aspect to still be able to use it? This is very important and interesting question, especially for those trying to understand the logic behind those who use the perfect aspect after the time reference (that is in the same sentence) is over.

 

[5jj]

See my post #7 here.

 

[Skrej]

As you said here, it doesn't necessarily have to still be the weekend, it could, just about, be Monday morning, but the question is: where's is the line? How far could native speakers go from the time reference of the sentence with the perfect aspect to still be able to use it? This is very important and intetersting question, especially for those trying to understand the logic behind those who use the perfect aspect after the time reference (that is in the same sentence) is over.

It's not nearly so important as you wish to make it, simply because that "line"is subjective to each and every speaker. It's for the speaker to decide. End of story.

It's less of a line than overlapping boundaries. You're looking for boundary lines like so:


When usage is much more like this:

 

[Marika33]

It's not nearly so important as you wish to make it

Why do you think so? It is important for me to understand that, can't I already consider it "important" since it is for me? Why is there even this attempt to look witty and use such language?

"line" is subjective to each and every speaker. It's for the speaker to decide. End of story.

OK, fine, then "I've been playing golf all day yesterday" is perfectly correct. Thanks!

 

[jutfrank]

Here's a different answer, which I don't expect you'll like, but which nevertheless is what I believe to be the case.

There is a line. On one side of the line is the psychological present and on the other side is the psychological past. If a speaker uses the present perfect on Monday morning it's because the duration of the weekend is extending up to that moment. The key to understanding this is to realise that aspect is about psychological time and not about the physical kind of time measured by clocks. This is why some teachers will tell you that the present perfect can be used for "recent past". Well, it may be the recent past in physical time but it's still the present in psychological time.

In psychological time, the concept of 'now' is not some quantum length in physical space-time, it extends into both the physical past and the physical future. In English, at least.