Usage of 'when'

[ichibanrfx]

I have a question regading the usage of 'when'. Is this sentence grammatically correct?

- When have you visited London?

I am a native English speaker and I think this sentence sounds okay, but I was told that this is grammatically incorrect.

Thanks for all of your help,

Jeff

 

[5jj]

It is possible.

We wold normally expect. "When did you visit London?"

 

[ichibanrfx]

Thanks for your reply. I agree that we would normally use "When did you visit London?"

Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? Why would my original sentence be grammatically incorrect?

Thanks for your help!

 

[5jj]

Why would my original sentence be grammatically incorrect?

It is inappropriate rather than incorrect. We normally understand 'when?' to mean 'on what past occasion?' If we are talking about a past time situation, the past tense is normally appropriate.

 

[TheParser]

I have a question regading the usage of 'when'. Is this sentence grammatically correct?

- When have you visited London?

I am a native English speaker and I think this sentence sounds okay, but I was told that this is grammatically incorrect.

Thanks for all of your help,

Jeff

NOT A TEACHER


Dear FELLOW MEMBER ICHIBANRFX:


I was wondering whether your sentence might be appropriate in this

situation:


Customs officer: Welcome to London.

Mona: Thank you.

Customs officer: Have you ever visited London before?

Mona: Oh, yes. I have visited your vibrant city often.

Customs officer: Is that so! Well, exactly when have you

visited London?

Mona: In 2006, 2007, 2010, and now, of course.



Respectfully yours,


James

 

[Barb_D]

I was also thinking about something like this:

A: I love the culture of London, but I hate the climate. It's always so damp!
B: It's not always damp! Come on now, be fair.
A: It's always ranged from damp to outright wet whenever I've been there.
B: Well, when have you visited London? It's lovely right now. Perhaps you've just come during the wrong seasons.

 

[ichibanrfx]

Thanks for all of your replies!! I also thought of a situation similar to the customs officer situation.

If anybody else wants to give me an opinion, please reply.

Thanks again!

 

[philo2009]

A present perfect with 'when' is most likely to occur when 'when' refers to a cyclically recurrent, rather than an exclusively past, time frame, e.g. a season of the year, as in

A: Have you ever visited London in the spring?
B: No...
A: In the autumn?
B: No...
A: So when have you visited our fair city?