Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[xlyangz]

Dear teacher,
I have two questions to ask you fou help.

1: Is there any difference between "Keep the door open." and "Leave the door open."?

2. In the blank of the sentence "Now that you _____ a famous mountain climber, what are you going to do?" , which should be filled in , " have been" or "are"?

Looking forward to your help!
Thank you very much!
Best wishes,
xlyangz

[Kristea]

You wrote...

1: Is there any difference between "Keep the door open." and "Leave the door open."?

**For me this is a matter of what is implied. I would say "Keep the door open" when nobody is trying to close the door - perhaps as a general rule. I would say "Leave the door open" to a person who may close the door.

2. In the blank of the sentence "Now that you _____ a famous mountain climber, what are you going to do?" , which should be filled in , " have been" or "are"?

**This one is odd. Depending on context I can see it going either way. I would say "have been" if the climber is retiring from climbing and I wanted to know what is next for him. I might say "are" if teh climber is still climbing and I wanted to know what mountain he is climbing next. HOWEVER, the "have been" option is probably the more common (and if this is a TOEFL type question the more likely to be "correct") because the wording seems to favor a sense that time has shifted. (Once you did this, now you are doing this.)

Hope this makes sense - Kristi
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