But now she's come back

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

:blossom: In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. :blossom:

Hi!

A: Where’s she gone?
B: I don’t know, but now she’s come back.

1- Which is correct:

A- Where’s → Where is …
B- Where’s → Where has …

2- Which is correct:

A- she’s → she is …
B- she’s → she has …

Thank you

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2

You’re welcome! Here’s the breakdown:

Sentence A: “Where’s she gone?”

  1. Where’s → Where has :white_check_mark:

    • This is the present perfect tense: “Where has she gone?”
    • It means: She went somewhere and is still not back (at the time of speaking).

Sentence B: “I don’t know, but now she’s come back.”

  1. she’s → she has :white_check_mark:

    • Again, this is present perfect: “She has come back.”
    • It means: She went away, but now she is back.

Final answers:

  1. B – Where’s → Where has :white_check_mark:
  2. B – she’s → she has :white_check_mark:

Let me know if you’d like a simple explanation of the grammar behind this!

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3

Thank you so much, Torsten :rose:
Wow, what a quick response!
Very nice.

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4

You asked essentially this same question a few days ago with respect to different text, and NN and Torsten have given you perfect answers.

When I saw your questions, I had to go back to the texts myself and analyze them to decide which verb was represented by “ ‘s ”.

So how do we decide, in real time, which verb we’re reading or listening to? One answer is that only one makes grammatical sense, but I think the real answer is that it doesn’t matter. The meaning of the sentence is clear without knowing which verb.

“Where [verb] she gone?”
The meaning is clear without knowing the verb. She was here. She left to go someplace.

The writer has de-emphasized the verb by using a contraction, and I suspect that the speaker has just barely made an “s” sound that is distinguishable from the “sh” sound of “she”.

Make no mistake, we absolutely, positively have to hear or read the “ ‘s” sound. Otherwise people like me will grit our teeth because of the lack of a verb, but it’s meaning isn’t essential.

So, for your task of creating and explaining a script, certainly you should say what the “ ‘s “ stands for, but don’t feel bad that you had to ask the question.

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Thank you so much, Arinker :rose:
Very nice.

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