Page 6 -In the office there were a man and a cat. The man was cooking supper for the cat.- "Here you are," the man put a bowl on the floor. Thanks, Rickey. Rickey is a university lecturer. He has studied the international situation for 10 years. But he is not intelligent. Although he is not fat, he moves slowly. He is thirty-five, a brilliant single man. His girlfriend, of course he doesn't have one. I'm not kept by him. I have never gone to his house either. "Sherry, today I got milk in the canteen for you," Rickey came with milk. Nevertheless he is not only honest but also kind. Today's points -The point 1- Here you are. This is used when we give something to the hearer. And "Here you go." is also used. (1) Could I have your passport, please? Here you are. Could you pass the sugar? Here you go. "Here we are." is similar form to these, but this is used when we arrive at the destination, like "We get here now." -The point 2- He has studied the international situation for 10 years. This is the present perfect form as we already saw it in Page 5. This form with "for + a period" can be used as we are doing something how much time. And the meaning "until now" is included, so "doing something" continues until the speaker utters. (2) How long have you lived in Japan? I have lived in Japan for five years. Sherry, does Rickey have a girlfriend? No. Rickey hasn't dated for 35 years. The past tense "He studied the international situation for 10 years." does not have "until now." Thus, it sometimes means he already stopped the study. Nest, these are the sense between "The present perfect form + for 10 years" and "The past tense + for 10 years." See the figure 6-1. Figure 6-1. In the above, 10 years with the present perfect form is connected with the present but 10 years with the past tense is not. In the case of this, whether something continues into the present or not is not known. "Since" is often used with the present perfect form. But this means the starting point unlike "for." (3) We have been friends since I met him in the campus. This means when I met him, we became the friend, and we are friend now. How long have I been a stray cat, Sherry? Do you remember? For about two years. I think so too. I have been a stray cat since I was left behind. After "since", the past tense is usually used. And the time nouns are also used. I haven't seen her since graduation. I have been reading this book since ten o'clock. Moreover, when we ask the period, we can use the interrogative sentence with "how long." (4) How long have you been in Europe? I have been in Europe for three months. -Note- How long "How long" in the above is also used other than the present perfect form. The following example asks time to the destination. (5) How long does it take to get to the university? It takes about forty minutes. "How long does it take" means asking the period, and put "to get to" after that to add the destination. This "get to" means like "arrive." And the destination is put after "get to." (6) How long does it take to get to the station? I think it takes twenty minutes. How long does it take to get to the International Center in the campus? About five minutes. To answer, we use "It takes." Time is put after "takes." It takes ten minutes. As we saw the above, we can ask the period with "how long." And there are "how much", "how many." "How much" asks uncountable nouns, "how many" asks countable nouns. (7) This is nice. How much is it? It is 50 dollars. How much does it cost to send this envelope? Do you know? How much does the envelope weigh? Within 50g, it costs 120 yen. How many people are in your family, Buttered? Four, my keeper and her parents. How many languages do you speak? I speak three languages. Oh, you are trilingual. "Trilingual" means we can speak three languages, "bilingual" means two languages and "multilingual" means many languages. I am bilingual in Japanese and English. Moreover we can use "how often", "how far." "How often" asks a frequency, "how far" asks a distance. (8) How often do you come here? I'll come three or four times a week. How often do you go out? I go out once a week. As the answer there are "once (one time)" or "twice (two times)." From three, we use with "times", so we say three times or four times. And when we use "a week", it means for a week. (9) once a day (do once in the day) three times a month (do three times in the month) If it means for two days or three months, "every" is put. once every two days (do once in the two days) once every three months (do once in the three months) (10) How far will we have to walk? It's not far. From here, we can see it four or five blocks away. Haven't they arrived yet? No, they haven't. They are coming here by car. How far are they driving? Maybe … they are driving about half of the way. "Maybe." means probably or perhaps. We use it when do not have confidence.

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