I understand the difference between these constructions: "has gone to", "has been to", "has been in":
- "has gone to" — there or on his way to;
- "has been to" — someone has been there but he is on his way back;
- "has been in" — someone is still there;
But now I am puzzled by next statements:
- Have you ever been to / in Greece? — Yes, it's a very beautiful country;
- When did you last go to Canada? — I've never been to Canada.
If I use "has you ever gone to Greece" construction in the first case or "I have never gone to Canada" in the second statement will it be uncorrect? Or just will sound odd? May I say "I have never been in Canada" in the second sentence. Or in these case all of the variants are possible, the problem is in how people usually say it (in what how it perfectly sounds)?
Best Answer
Your understanding of the three phrases is not quite correct:
has gone to
- there or on his way to;has been to
- someone has been there but he is on his way back; OR someone has been there at some point in the past and is now elsewherehas been in
- someone is still there; someone has gone there at some point in the past and is still thereSo these statements:
You could say
HAVE you ever gone to Greece
and it would be correctI have never gone to Canada
is also correctI have never been in Canada
, while it would be understood, might sound odd to some. In this sentenceI have never been TO Canada
, would be correct.