When is it appropriate to use “been” vs “gone” in the construction of a sentence?
EG “I have been to a particular place”, vs “I have gone to a particular place”
What’s the rule, gang?
I don’t think it’s a question of grammar so much as one of meaning.
The two are completely different sentences. “Been” refers to your having existed in that place at some point in the past. “Gone” refers to your journey there. It’s just “be” and “go”, really.
Of course, the two get confused somewhat in everyday English, but I’d wager there’s no rule for that just like there’s no rule for when you should use “walrus” other than “lawnmower”.
“I have been” means you were and aren’t any more. And, shouldn’t that be followed by “in”? You are IN somewhere (occasionally on somewhere but that’s rarer)
“I have gone” means that you have… gone. It doesn’t say anything about whether you’ve left the place.
What The Loaded Dog said. (Your problem is that walrusses are carnivores, shellfish-eaters. To mow your lawn, you need a manatee. ;))
An utterance involving “I have been there” is focused on the place itself. One involving “I have gone there” involves the place as a destination. Alexandria Bay, New York, is a tourist resort, in the middle of the Thousand Islands. I know people who live there, who grew up there. Their statements about the place as a community, the Mayor and Village Board, the local school district, the Big M Market, and such are going to have “been” constructions. Someone who spent a two-week vacation there at the Edgewood Resort, took the Uncle Sam Boat Tour of the islands, swam and fished, is going to describe his visit in terms of having “gone” there. Consider the construction “in the house” – Latin would translate this as either in domum or in domo according to whether the underlying meaning is “into the house” or “within the house.” Likewise, the choice of “to be” or “to go” relative to a location depends on the focus of what is being described: “I have been in a place” vs. “I have gone to a place.”
Or a cow. Then you’d have a lawn moo-er.
When you’ve got manatees feasting on your lawn you have other worries than dietary priorities. Such as bailing out your house and where did you put that flood insurance policy.