Have married and Have been married

[Jupiter]

Hi teachers

I've got one more question for you.
What is the difference between

He has married four times. and

He has been married four times.

Thanks for your help.

Jupiter

[Jamie (K)]

Jupiter, there is not very much difference between the two. "He has married four times," means that he has gone through four marriage ceremonies. We assume he lived with the woman after that, but we can't be sure. It's possible he married women as a business deal to bring them into the United States or to some other country, but he never lived with them. It's also possible he's had four weddings but had them all annulled.

When we hear, "He has been married four times," it could mean the same thing as the other sentence, but it also sounds as if he's been in four marriages and actually lived with the woman as her husband.

I have a friend who married a man and just hours after the wedding realized it was a horrible mistake and that he was a terrible man. She was so afraid to stay with him that she left him hours later and tried to have the marriage annulled, but in her province that must be done within 24 hours. The law in her province required her to wait two years before divorcing. However, she never lived with the man and never saw him after the wedding day. So she has married once, but it would be hard for us to say she has been married at all.

[Chocolatee]

Both sentences mean the same thing to me. I think people just say things in different ways but they mean the same thing. You may say either of the two, depending on which you are comfortable with.

[Pamela]

Sure,Jamie's point of view is the most right!

[Jamie (K)]

[Spencer]

Hi Jamie,
Shouldn't have You written:
I think you meant...
Instead of "I think you mean"?
Or both good?
Or only the one you wrote?
Thanks
Spencer

[Guest]

Dear Blood Brother!
Hi Spencer!

Sorry for correcting you again but I think Jamie should not have written `meant` in any case. Because `meant? would be used in the Simple Past here and the Simple Past in English will be used if you speak about a story or report about anything that happened in the past or if you mention a particular point of time like yesterday, last week and so on.

What Jamie could have written were: ?I think you have meant? This would be the Present Perfect and the Verbform would be a special one but you can use it like the Past Perfect Verbform.

But Jamie have written about a statement that pamela had given before. I mean pamela has the opinion that she agrees with Jamie?s piont of view. She did that, she does that and she will do that. So her opinion has the state of long lasting. And if you write about long lasting states the English use the Simple Present Verbform. Confusing? I think it is!

That is what in my grammar book is discribed about Tenses regarding your question to Jamie!

Thank you for giving me the occassion to prove my own skills again! I hope it can help you too.

In memory to our contract!

Michael

[Jamie (K)]

Spencer, I could have chosen either the simple present or the simple past tense for that statement. It all depends on my point of view.

If I had thought of Pamela's statement as something complete and finished, I would have used the simple past and said "meant".

However, I thought of it as a statement that was still current, in a conversation that was still going on, so I used the simple present and said "mean".

[Pamela]

Sorry,Jamie.Of course I meant point of view!It was just a misprint

[Guest]

Hey, now i don?t know what?s at all!

Is my grammar book wrong, am I wrong or are there differences between American and British English?

Please enlighten me!

Michael

[Alan]

Hi Michael,

Relax. I'm sure your grammar books are fine. Imagine if you like that the forum is a conversation in print. People ask questions, receive answers and sometimes they don't understand the answer and so they ask another question like: What do you mean when you say **** ?

The answer could be: I mean **** when I say ***

All this is conducted in the Present Simple form to show that the opinions/answers/replies are not related to one specific time but exist all the time. Another example of timelessness is when you quote from a writer as in: Shakespeare says in his play Macbeth *****.

Does this help?

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Saying It Twice

[Fan Of Arabian Horses]

Thanks Alan for giving me that input! I?ll try to relax.

As I?m a German and a Technician too I often have to consider rules. Sometimes I seem to exaggarate that.

Have you ever seen a movie which title in English might be "Bold guys with flying jaloppies"? You suggested me to be the German officer.

What I understood in your post is that a conversation not nessecarily has to follow close to the rules of my grammar book. Is that right?

Michael

[Alan]

Hi,

I'm sure the rules also talk about this use of the Present Simple. Have a look at some material I've written for the site on the Present Simple:

http://www.english-test.net/lessons/

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Read the Signs...

[Fan Of Arabian Horses]

Sorry, Alan, for coming up with this theme again! I understand your explanation about opinions/answers/replies that are not related to one specific time but exist all the time. They will be expressed in the Present Simple form. As you have written:

The answer could be: I mean****when I say*****

I have thought that the same is related to Jamie?s sentence:

"I think you mean point of view."

Is it possible to write, speak or mention this sentence in the Past Simple Form with this wording without mention any point of time? Even like this way:

"I think you ?meant? point of view"?

Please don?t feel beared! I really can?t find out the answer!

Michael

[Spencer]

Hey Blood Brother
You did the right thing!
I'm proud of us!
As far as I understand Your explanation You must be right.
Still , I've seen a movie when a high class lady (Hi Jamie ) said something like: I meant her.
She was asking about a woman, but they got her wrong, so she corrected them like: I meant her (not that other person)
If I had to figure out why, I'd say because at that very moment she was talking about her previous sentence.
She could've said: I WAS talking about her.
I don't think anyone will understand my highly educated explanation but me, but I have to admit, it's not really clear to myself either.
I was kidding,and probably wrong as well
Spencer