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 Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:12 am is it correct: how long has it been on? |
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'Lasted'. 'Taken' is OK, but indicates the speaker's dissatisfaction with the lesson or its length. 'Been on' is for TV shows, etc.
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Canadian-American native speaker
who teaches English for a living at Mister Micawber's
ESL cafe: Interview with Mister Micawber |
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Mister Micawber
Language Coach
Joined: 17 Jul 2005
Posts: 3884
Location: Yokohama, Japan
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| Wed Jan 09, 2008 13:03 pm is it correct: how long has it been on? |
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| Liza wrote: | Could you tell me which is the correct way to ask: when a lesson started?:
How long has the lesson been on?
How long has the lesson lasted?
How long has the lesson taken?
or anythign else? |
This is going to depend on whether the lesson is still in progress.
1. How long has the lesson been on?
As Mister Micawber said, this asks how long the lesson has been on TV or the radio. It's equivalent to asking what time they started broadcasting the lesson.
2. How long has the lesson lasted?
This means, "How long has the lesson been on previous occasions?" or, "What's the longest a lesson in this class has ever lasted?"
3. How long has the lesson taken?
This means the same as 2.
If I were to ask about a lesson that's still in progress, I'd probably say one of these:
How long has this lesson been going on?
How long ago did this lesson start?
You could get away with 2 or 3, if you changed "the" to "this", but even then I still don't like 3 that much.
If the lesson is already over, I'd say:
How long did the lesson last?
How long did the lesson take?
How long did the lesson go on? |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4106
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| "regardless of" vs "in spite of" | going to a restaurant, or going to the restaurant, etc. |
