It's been a really good holiday. / It was a really good holiday.

[Michaelll]

I know that on the last day of a holiday we can say, "It's been a really good holiday". But I'd like to know if we can say that when you've just returned from a holiday.

• It's been a really good holiday. (= from about the middle of the holiday to the last day of it)
• It's been a really good holiday. (= when you've just returned from the holiday) (?)

 

[White Hat]

I know that one can say 'It's been raining' even if it stopped raining a while ago. I wonder if one could take a similar approach in our case.

 

[emsr2d2]

I know that one can say 'It's been raining' even if it stopped raining a while ago. I wonder if one could take a similar approach in our this case.

In the middle of a holiday, you could say "It's been a really good holiday so far". After returning, we'd only say "It was a really good holiday".

 

[White Hat]

emsr2d2, you changed it to 'this case' above. Was it really a mistake? Take a look at this: 'Radioisotopes used in medicine do not stay radioactive for very long. For this reason, the laboratories for manufacturing a nuclear imaging drug must be close to both the cyclotron that produces the isotopes, and the PET-CT scanners where the drug is used – in our case, at the Royal University Hospital’s nuclear medicine department in Saskatoon, hospitals in Manitoba and Alberta, and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon'. (Source: University of Saskatchewan)

 

[emsr2d2]

If you and Michaelll somehow colluded to write post #1, I'd accept "our case". However, the OP is Michaelll so it is his/her thread and question, not yours.
The reason "our case" is correct in your quote is because it's written by the University of Saskatchewan and "our" refers to that same university.

 

[White Hat]

If you and Michaelll somehow colluded to write post #1, I'd accept "our case". However, the OP is Michaelll so it is his/her thread and question, not yours.
The reason "our case" is correct in your quote is because it's written by the University of Saskatchewan and "our" refers to that same university.

By 'our case' I meant the subject we (all of us) were discussing in this specific thread.

 

[emsr2d2]

Even so, I can assure you that I'm sticking to my guns and saying it wasn't the natural choice here.

Let's get back to the actual question at hand. I'm sure Michaelll will be grateful for his/her thread not getting sidetracked by a trivial matter.

 

[Michaelll]

In the middle of a holiday, you could say "It's been a really good holiday so far". After returning, we'd only say "It was a really good holiday".

Are you sure about that?

How about this situation: You've just returned home, and a neighbor you haven't seen in about three weeks knocks on the door. You open the door, and she asks "Where have you been? I haven't seen you around here in quite a while!"

A: Where have you been? I haven't seen you around here in quite a while!
B: I've been on holiday. It's been a really good holiday/one.

 

[jutfrank]

It's been a really good holiday. (= from about the middle of the holiday to the last day of it)

Okay, but only if you're looking back and evaluating the holiday in its entirety. If the first half of the holiday was a hellish nightmare, you probably wouldn't say that.

It's been a really good holiday. (= when you've just returned from the holiday) (?)

Yes, it's possible that a speaker would still use the same perfect aspect in this case but only if he were still imagining the time frame of the holiday as leading up to the time of speaking. If he were thinking of the holiday as a past event, he'd use a past tense.

I imagine that one complicating factor for you here is the fact that a holiday can be imagined as a time frame itself—a period of time away from something, rather than as an event/experience that takes place in time. Can you tell me which of these senses you're using? If we know that, it may well help to understand your question.

To understand the use of aspect clearly, I believe one has to distinguish a difference between time frames and actions/states/processes that take place within timeframes. (This is a common point of misunderstanding for students and teachers alike.) Sometimes the distinction is unclear.

 

[Michaelll]

If he were thinking of the holiday as a past event, he'd use a past tense.

This makes lots of sense to me! I'd myself use the past simple (after returning home), but I would also choose "I lived in Moscow" (not "I've been living in Moscow") to a question of my old English friend, "I haven't seen you for ages! Where have you been?", in the situation when it's already been two weeks since I moved from Moscow back to Minsk.

• (It's the last day of my holiday) It's been a really good holiday.
• (After I've come back from my holiday) It was a really good holiday.
  
  An old English friend of mine: I haven't seen you for ages! Where have you been?
• B: (I've gone to Minsk for only a couple of days and then I'm going back to Moscow) I've been living in Moscow.
• B: (I moved back to Minsk two weeks ago) I lived in Moscow.
  
  A neighbor I haven't seen in two weeks: Where have you been? I haven't seen you around here in the last couple of weeks!
• (I'm at home = I came back from my holiday some time ago) B: I was on holiday. It was a really good holiday/one.

You see? I don't catch such a thing as matching the tense/aspect, I only use them in the meaning I know they express.

 

[5jj]

I don't catch such a thing as matching the tense/aspect, I only use them in the meaning I know they express.

Your sentences are all possible. you need to accept that some native speakers might well use other forms. We have rather more flexibility than you seem to think.

 

[Michaelll]

We have rather more flexibility than you seem to think.

Yeah, I really don't think there is much flexibility in English. Having seen some moderators here correcting every little thing in your post, the only thing that gets through to the addressee is that English is a very restrictive language.

 

[5jj]

Yeah, I really don't think there is much flexibility in English.

There is a great deal of flexibility in the uses of tenses and aspects. One of your problems is that you seem unwilling to accept this.

Having seen some moderators here correcting every little thing in your post,

It is a feature of this forum that all mods, and some experienced members, correct the mistakes we see. If we did not do this, learners might carry on making the same mistakes. That's something else you need to accept.

 

[jutfrank]

It's been a really good holiday.

Here, the use of the present perfect reveals that the speaker imagines that the time frame leads up to the present moment. In teacher parlance, there is 'present relevance'. It doesn't matter whether it's the last day of the holiday, or two days after, or one day before returning, or halfway through. All that matters is that if the speaker sees the time frame as leading up to the present moment, he'll use present perfect, and if he sees the holiday as a past event, he'll use a past tense. It's that simple. Aspect is about how speakers understand time conceptually. Making a distinction between physical time (as measured by physicists) and psychological time, is very useful here. Our idea of when 'now' is, when the present moment is, is a purely psychological one and not a physical one.

It was a really good holiday.

This shows that the speaker is thinking of the holiday as a past event or experience. (The meaning of the word 'holiday' is an interesting point to follow, I think, but that's not related to the choice of aspect in this case.)

An old English friend of mine: I haven't seen you for ages! Where have you been?

• B: (I've gone to Minsk for only a couple of days and then I'm going back to Moscow) I've been living in Moscow.
• B: (I moved back to Minsk two weeks ago) I lived in Moscow.

The question is about your location during a time frame that stretches from the moment you last saw him to the present moment. So since that's the question, it would be most natural to respond with the same aspect, so I've been in Moscow is a good answer, and so is I've been living in Moscow. However, I lived in Moscow is very odd as it doesn't really address the question (aspect matching). We don't always 'have to' match aspect but it's natural that when someone asks us about a certain time frame, we're going to answer about that time frame directly.

Another very complicating factor I'd point out here relates to the meaning of the verb 'live', which I think is very tricky to understand. The verb 'live' can be understood as both stative and active. In this context, even though the question is about your location (it's not about what you've been doing), you may still answer with I've been living in Moscow. Although this answer may seem to be about what you've been doing (action), it's actually about your location (state), so it's a felicitous answer.

• A neighbor I haven't seen in two weeks: Where have you been? I haven't seen you around here in the last couple of weeks!
• (I'm at home = I came back from my holiday some time ago) B: I was on holiday. It was a really good holiday/one.

You see? I don't catch such a thing as matching the tense/aspect, I only use them in the meaning I know they express.

For the reasons I've mentioned above, if the question is Where have you been?, the most direct answer (aspect matching) is to say where you've been, which is to say I've been on holiday. In this case, the entire time frame is only two weeks, so it's very understandable that the speaker still sees a present relevance. If you returned from holiday months ago, that's unlikely. The further back in time you go, the less chance there is that a speaker sees there being a present relevance (this is why many teachers and reference books invoke a 'recent' past) . Again, it's about psychological time, not physical time.