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What's the difference? One day, I returned from dinner with my coworkers. Before I came home, I drank several beers. When I entered the living room, my wife asked me:

Have you been drinking?

Did you drink?

Have you drunk?

Is there any slight difference? Which of the three is best ? Could anyone tell the difference ?

Steve Kim
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2 Answers2

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'Have you been drinking?' typically refers only to drinking some form of alcohol. Depending on the context, 'Did you drink?' can also refer to alcohol, but not always. 'Have you drunk?', though technically correct, sounds weird and I do not think it is used; 'Are you drunk?' can be more appropriate.

shardulc
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    "Have you drunk?" sounds like someone is asking whether you have completed that step on a list of tasks. 1. Put on your tennis shoes 2. put on your white robes 3. drink some Flavor-Aid 4. step outside..... Have you drunk yet? – Adam Dec 03 '15 at 18:18
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The situations where your wife may choose anyone of the said options are :

  • If your wife can smell the alcohol - Have you been drinking?
  • Your wife may or may not know whether you drank. She queries - Did you drink?
  • 'Are you drunk' is a better construction than 'Have you drunk'. Wife may or may not know whether you drank but she asks to know.

Please use the below for brushing the present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses : http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfectcontinuous.html

Aswani Kumar Nayak
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