Courtney
Is this grammatically correct? "How many years did you live in England?" I would know these below sound much more natural and better to use, "How many years have you lived in England?" or "How long did you live/have you lived~?" but I'd like to know whether this expression "How many years did you live in~?" is CORRECT GRAMMATICALLY or NOT AT ALL. (because I'm checking grammatical errors) Thank you in advance!
Aug 24, 2019 9:47 AM
Answers · 8
1
How many years did you live in ... Can be used if you know that the person is living somewhere else NOW. In this case the grammar is correct Otherwise if the person is still living there you need to say How long have you been living
August 24, 2019
Hey Courtney! Yes it is grammatically correct!
August 24, 2019
thanks a lot everyone!
August 24, 2019
"How many years did you live in~?" is 100% grammatically correct but it is definitely not the most common way to ask this kind of question. "How long did you live in/have you lived in~?" is the best example of a natural way to express it.
August 24, 2019
Your second examples aren't 'natural and better'. It all depends on context. To add to Greg's comment, the difference between 'how long' and 'how many years' is a matter of precision. If you ask 'how long', I don't know how precise you want me to be. Do you want me to say "3 years, 2 months, and 25 days"? If you ask "how many years?" I know that you do not want an exact answer.
August 24, 2019
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