Why is "Where have you been yesterday?" wrong?

Asked Sep 27 '15 at 17:24

Active Sep 27 '15 at 18:49

Viewed 898 times

Where [have you been/were you] yesterday?

If I choose the option "Where have you been yesterday?" then my answer was marked wrong and were you is considered as correct one. But have you been does make sense because its the action of just recent past so using present perfect here sounds fine to me.

Suggestions please.

edited Sep 27 '15 at 18:49

StoneyB on hiatus

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asked Sep 27 '15 at 17:24

Seema Bhukar

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In order for us to explain why your teacher would say that is wrong, you need to fully explain what the question was. Both sentences are perfectly fine but if your test specifically asks you to ask someone about their activities yesterday, "where have you been" does not do that. – Catija Sep 27 '15 at 17:29
@Catija the question was just simple to find the error in the sentence and the sentence given was: where have you been yesterday? – Seema Bhukar Sep 27 '15 at 18:17
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Briefly, the present perfect is a present tense and is not used with time expressions which do not include the present. See What is the perfect, and how should I use it?, especially §3.1 Grammatical meaning. – StoneyB on hiatus Sep 27 '15 at 18:45

Why is "Where have you been yesterday?" wrong?

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