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Which of the grammatical constructions above is (or are) more typical of what is commonly said and heard in colloquial AE?

If all three options work, is there any difference to them meaningwise?

Also -- excluding grammar rules and switching to nonstandard -- what would be the typical response(s) from John & Jane Doe in casual speech to the question:

[FYI I'm asking this question in consideration of the following source http://www.antimoon.com/forum/t3137.htm focusing on the various ways to respond to a present tense question starting with "Have you got..." in casual speech, and so I wish you could tell if the same ungrammatical "rule" might also apply with present perfect questions.]

Have you ever been (or gone) to France?

Would it be:

  • Yes, I have/No, I haven't.
  • Yes, I do (have been to...)/No, I don't (have been to...).
  • Yes, I did/No, I didn't.

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How about if I say: Have you been to the dentist?

Would the usual, most commonly heard response(s) be:

  • Yes, I have/No, I haven't.
  • Yes, I do (have been to...)/No, I don't (have been to...).
  • Yes, I did/No, I didn't.

If all of these options are possible, is there any difference to them?

Elian
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  • The three constructions in your title are all perfectly fine. You'd have to look at a corpus and count to see which is more common. – Peter Shor Mar 07 '14 at 11:32
  • Sure, Peter. The only thing is a corpus will not say if there's any difference to them so I can know whether or mot I can use these constructions just about interchangeably. – Elian Mar 07 '14 at 11:40
  • No I don't/Yes I do are not valid answers to these questions. These questions are past tense. These answers are not. – David M Mar 07 '14 at 12:47
  • @DavidM I know "No I don't/Yes I do" are ungrammatical in this case. But I heard that Americans in a colloquial context were more likely to respond "No I don't/Yes I do" to a question beginning with "Have" as in "Have you got a car?". And so I was thinking that in analogy with this they might also be likely to respond likewise to a past tense question like "Have you been". – Elian Mar 07 '14 at 13:34
  • Have you got is the present perfect (I'm shit at naming these things), not the past tense. Hence, it makes sense. – David M Mar 07 '14 at 13:36
  • @DavidM Sure. But in careful prose, you wouldn't respond "I do/don't" to a question starting with "have" as in "have you got", would ya? – Elian Mar 07 '14 at 13:41
  • @DavidM Look what I just added to make things clearer. – Elian Mar 07 '14 at 13:47
  • The least colloquial response I can conjure up, is: "Have you ever visited France?" –  Mar 07 '14 at 12:43
  • "But in careful prose, you wouldn't respond "I do/don't" to a question starting with "have" as in "have you got", would ya?" No, and AFAICT it is a myth that Americans typically answer that way. IMO, to "Have you got a dog?" they typically answer "Yes, I have", "Yes, I've got a dog", "No, I haven't", or "No, I haven't got a dog". To "Do you have a dog?" they typically answer "Yes, I do" or "No, I don't." This is not the first time I've heard this claim, however. I'm speaking from my experience, including my paying attention since decades ago when I first heard the claim. – Drew Mar 10 '14 at 01:18
  • On the other hand, an American might answer "Yes, I do have a dog", for emphasis. Perhaps that is the basis for this myth. I do not know of Americans who would say just "Yes, I do" in this context, however. Perhaps a Brit would never use "do" here for emphasis, even with "have", but would always just emphasize "have": "Yes, I have." Dunno. – Drew Mar 10 '14 at 01:24
  • @Drew Do a lot of Americans say "Have you got" to ask a question, Drew? – Elian Mar 10 '14 at 01:25
  • Sure, they do. "Haven't you got a car?" See the reference you cited, where it says However it is perfectly normal to say "Have you got a pen?" rather than "Do you have a pen?" – Drew Mar 10 '14 at 01:27
  • @Drew How about the nonstandard "Do you got" as of [What do you got here?], do Americans say it also? – Elian Mar 10 '14 at 02:09
  • How about it? You already described it as "nonstandard." You will find some Americans who say anything. After all, they come from everywhere and can have learned English, or partly learned it, anywhere. ;-) – Drew Mar 10 '14 at 02:17
  • @Drew "What do you got there, girl?" was a line uttered by American actor David Strathairn in the movie "The River Wild" starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. Check it out for yourself here http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/r/river-wild-script-transcript-streep.html ;-) – Elian Mar 10 '14 at 02:39

1 Answers1

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Re France

'Have you ever been to France?' would be the normal British way of asking. That might not be the same for Americans who may be more inclined to say 'Did you ever go to France', but I can't be certain about that.

The appropriate answer to 'Have you been' would be 'Yes I have/no I haven't', whilst to 'Did you ever go?', would be 'Yes I did/no I didn't'.

Re dentist

'Have you been to the dentist', and 'did you go to the dentist' mean almost the same thing but might be employed in slightly different circumstances, which it would be lengthy and complicated to discuss. There is certainly a great deal of overlap where either would be used. But again the appropriate answer would follow the structure of the question 'Yes I have/no I haven't' or 'Yes I did/no I didn't'.

WS2
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    Speaking for the other side of the pond… France: it sounds more proper to say been, but there are people who say gone. Dentist: most would say gone. – David M Mar 07 '14 at 12:44
  • @David What if your dentist is in France? – Mitch Mar 07 '14 at 13:01
  • @Mitch then you have bigger issues to contend with. The insurance coverage alone would make you immediately abandon any grammatical concerns! – David M Mar 07 '14 at 13:10