Have you ever been to America? or Did you ever visit America?

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

Which sentense is correct or most commonly used:

  1. Have you ever been to America?
  2. Have you ever been in America?
  3. Did you ever visit America?
  4. How many times have you been to America?
2

If you wanna know why do I ask this perhaps fishy question, here is an explanation. Do you remember this little poem?

  • Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat,
    Where have you been?
  • I have been to London
    To look at the Queen.

So, once I’ve asked one American:

  • How many times have you been to Ukraine?
    He seemed to be very confused with this question for a while, but I don’t know the real reason of that, whether it was because of an incorrect question or because it was difficult for him to recall the answer. So, It’s now my turn to be a little bit confused :frowning:
3

Sentence 2 would be considered ungrammatical by most people, because it has “in” instead of “to”.

Sentences 1 and 4 are for asking about non-specific times in the past.

Sentence 3 is for asking about a specific, limited time in the past. “Did you ever visit America [when you were in your 20s]?” “Did you ever visit America [before you got too sick to travel]?”

I don’t know why the American didn’t understand your question. There could be many reasons. Maybe he doesn’t know standard American English (which in this case is the same as standard British English), but even people who speak strange dialects of English would understand the question you asked. Maybe you asked the question at a strange time in the conversation, or maybe your accent is hard to understand. I know some people who have a perfect command of standard English grammar but still can’t be understood by native speakers. If you said, “Хау мений таймсс хэфф ю бийн ту Юкрейн?” or, “Хау мений таймсс хэy ю бийн ту Юкрейн?” it might have confused him, if he’s not used to foreign accents.

4

Privet, bit’sya ob zaklad ne budy, no v moem shkolnom uchebnike bylo napisano ,chto Have been in eto amerikanizm. Esli ty eshe v Rossii ili Ukraine, to uchebnik nazyvaetsya Happy English 2, on zelenyi takoi. Tak vot tam v nchale byl dialog s etimi poyasneniyami. Ya tochno pomnyu, chto tak bylo napisano, no pravilno eto ili net, ya teper ne znayu, tk amerikanest naverhu napisal, chto oni tak ne govoryat. Hotay on mozhet byt takoiz he amerikanest kak ty i ya. Ya domoi edu cherz mesyat iz prinsipa posmotryu v uchebnike!!! :):slight_smile: Mozhet ehse kto napishet:):slight_smile:
Natasha

5

Thank both of you for your deep and exhaustive answers :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

6

Jamie, you are absolutely right. My wife once wanted to ask a finnish guy whether he has a car. She asked him five times or more before he got the point. The reason is her way of pronunciation of the car. She said it as [ka] not [ka:].

7

That is precisely the reason why English shall be banned for ever from international
relations.English has no sense because of so tiny, silly, almost unrecognisable differences.
English is bad.
Esperanto is good.

Jan

8

Esperanto actually works, but it has none of the delightful eccentricities of a real language. I found it extremely boring to learn, because there were no interesting idioms, surprising words or anything like that – and I got pretty advanced.

Also, Esperanto can’t make any headway in the world because it’s mostly under the control of crazy people with strange beliefs. If 75% of the people controlling the Esperanto world were rational, it might have a chance.

9

Once another American and I had a lot of trouble understanding an Irishman whose pronunciation was almost exactly like ours. After thinking about what the reason might be, we realized that he stressed a lot of his words on different syllables than in standard English, and he stressed different words in his sentences.

10

I am out of Esperanto society and I have no clue about Esperanto and English as well. I know that as long as money & power exist among us Esperanto
never will have any chance.
We will have war after war crisis after crisis until the blessed end most probably without
freedom and justice but with a lot of regrets about passed years.
Happy to live even without good hopes for future. :smiley:
Jan

11

This conversation has been shifted to a very dramatic and unexpected plane :? . Most likely, the problem is much more simple. The American was lost in his thought, and I’ve interrupted him suddenly with my question. That’s the most plausible explanation, I suppose :slight_smile: .

12

hello
I nivite you become friends

13

I would be afraid that native English speakers are quite often entirely lost while under conversation with foreigners, so often they are lost that it becomes to be chronic symptom of English dialogues.

Jan

14

No such a thing, my friend :smiley: . Everyone has a right to be plunged into his thoughts, or to dream, or to be concerned with some private problems etc. Very often this shows that the person isn’t quite shallow. Anyway, this American, Antonio, is a wonderful guy.