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I'd like to know whether the past tense "went to" or the present perfect "have been to" should be used in the following. Do different dialects behave differently here?

A: I went to Boston five times. / I have been to Boston five times.

B: Wow! I'm so envious.

Apollyon
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    Given B's response, it's pretty obvious that the fact of the speaking having been to Boston five times is ***contextually relevant to time of utterance***. Since that's the main reason you might want to use Present Perfect, it's fine in your example context. But that doesn't mean it's "wrong" to use Simple Past - it's really just a stylistic choice here. – FumbleFingers Mar 05 '21 at 14:08
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    Does this answer your question? [What is the difference between have been and went?](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/37978/what-is-the-difference-between-have-been-and-went) Also [“have been to” versus “went to”](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/51994/have-been-to-versus-went-to) and [Using have gone to / been to / been in](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/115858/using-have-gone-to-been-to-been-in), among others. – FumbleFingers Mar 05 '21 at 14:09

1 Answers1

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As often is the case, the problem with the examples are context. Without context things are often not meaningful. Both cases mean travelled and are in the past.

As a kid I went to Boston five times to visit my Aunt.

I am worn out! I have been to Boston five times this week.

I went to

went = go, go = travel

I travelled to Boston five times.

I have been = travel

I travelled to Boston five times

**Been** verb UK /biːn/ /bɪn/ US /biːn/ /bɪn/

past participle of be; used to mean "visited" or "travelled",:

I've never been to Kenya, but I hope to visit it next year. "Have you ever been there before?" - "Yes, I've been twice."

used as the past participle of "go" when the action referred to is finished:

She's been to the hairdresser's (= and now she has returned). Do you need to go to the bathroom, or have you already been?

Ref; CED

In relation to your comment on or the present perfect "have been to"

We use the present perfect continuous to talk about a finished activity in the recent past. Using the present perfect continuous focuses on the activity.

We don’t give a specific time. Even though the activity is finished, we can see the result in the present:

I’ve just been cleaning the car. (The car is wet and clean.)

It’s been snowing. (The ground is covered in snow.)

What have you been buying?

Brad
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  • Is it wrong to say "I am worn out! I went to Boston five times this week"? – Apollyon Mar 05 '21 at 14:29
  • @Apollyon Not if you travelled there. However a better question would be is it wrong to say "As a kid I have been to Boston five times to visit my Aunt" – Brad Mar 05 '21 at 14:36
  • Why does this answer talk (at length) about present perfect continuous? There are no continuous forms at all in the question. It looks as if you are interpreting _been_ as introducing a continuous, but it doesn't here (there's no _-ing_). In fact, the question relies on a special meaning of _been to_ (only the perfect, not other forms of _be_) meaning _visited and come back_. – Colin Fine Mar 05 '21 at 14:49
  • @Colin Fine. Agreed I have tried to clarify my answer. I had tried to point out that both examples were of travelling in the past and then secondly the use of "present perfect continuous" I hope now this is more clear. – Brad Mar 10 '21 at 06:23