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Is the word "to go" a punctual verb? I don't think so because we can say:

  1. It took him five days to go to xxx.

But why we can't say:

  1. I have been going to New York for five days

( Intended meaning: I left five days ago/ I have been on this trip for five days)

1 Answer 1

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Your examples show that “go” can be used in a durative sense that focuses on the fact that going from A to B is an activity that takes time.

It can also be used in a punctual sense.

I went to the theater last night see a production of “Hamlet.”

The sentence above is unconcerned with how many minutes it took to get to the theater. It is concerned with identifying on what day the activity occurred.

There may be English verbs that are exclusively punctual and others that are exclusively durative, but the majority of English verbs can take on either role.

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  • Do you mean that (2) also works?
    – ForOU
    Jul 16, 2022 at 7:15
  • It would be more natural to say It took him five days to get to/reach XXX and I have been travelling to New York for five days. Jul 16, 2022 at 7:26
  • @kate Bunting Thanks.
    – ForOU
    Jul 16, 2022 at 11:59
  • @Robbyzhu It was not a very good example of a durative sense of "go", as Kate has pointed out. But though an unusual one it was still gramatical. A better example of the durative sense of "do" would be - She has been going to school for two years.
    – WS2
    Jul 26, 2022 at 17:42
  • @WS2 Yeah, I know that the example sentences are unnatural. But I kind of don't understand why "to go" is a punctual verb. It's not simply about "leave" or "arrive"( these can happen in an instant), but covers the whole action of going from one place to another, which seems durative to me.
    – ForOU
    Jul 28, 2022 at 1:38

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