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CAT Exam  >  CAT Questions  >  How long__________ (play) the piano? "Si... Start Learning for Free
How long __________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."
Correct answer is 'have you been playing'. Can you explain this answer?
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How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct...
"Have you been playing the piano?" is a question that is asking about the duration of an action that began in the past and continues up to the present. The verb "play" is in the present perfect tense, which is used to describe actions or events that began in the past and continue up to the present. The present perfect tense is formed by using the auxiliary verb "have" or "has" followed by the past participle of the main verb. In this case, the past participle of "play" is "played," so the full verb phrase is "have been playing."
The answer to the question "How long have you been playing the piano?" is "Since I was 5." This means that the person has been playing the piano for a duration of time that began when they were 5 years old and continues up to the present.

I hope this helps to clarify the use of the present perfect tense in this context.

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How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct...
Understanding the Question
The question "How long__________ (play) the piano?" is asking for the duration of time someone has been playing the piano. The correct answer is "have you been playing," which indicates a continuous action that started in the past and continues into the present.
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
- Usage: The phrase "have you been playing" utilizes the present perfect continuous tense, which is used to express actions that began in the past and are still ongoing.
- Structure: The structure includes:
- Subject: You
- Auxiliary Verbs: Have been
- Main Verb: Playing
Indicating Duration
- Time Frame: The answer "Since I was 5" specifies when the action started, which is crucial for understanding the duration.
- Continuous Action: This highlights that the person started playing the piano at age 5 and continues to do so, emphasizing the ongoing nature of the activity.
Importance of Context
- Present Relevance: The present perfect continuous connects the past with the present, indicating that the experience of playing the piano is relevant now.
- Conversational Context: This tense is commonly used in conversations to discuss experiences and skills, making it a natural fit for the question.
Conclusion
Using "have you been playing" effectively communicates that the action of playing the piano is both a past endeavor and a current activity, making it a perfect response to the question about duration. This tense enriches the conversation by providing a clear timeline and context.
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In 1893, Theodore Roosevelt published an article in defense of college football. As player injuries mounted, some critics had called for a ban on the game. Nonsense, the future president wrote. "It is mere unmanly folly to try to do away with the sport because the risk exists." Instead, he argued, reform football to "minimize" its dangers.Sound familiar? As millions of American boys and young men take to our football fields this fall, theres lots of talk about making the game safer. Weve seen new rules on tackling, stronger penalties for infractions and time limits on practices. But its unlikely that these changes will significantly reduce injuries. For the last century, schools and colleges have tried to modify the game so fewer people get hurt. And it hasnt worked.The first changes took place in the early 1900s. Before that time the game resembled rugby, with players piling on top of one another to control the ball. They could pass it sideways or backward but not forward.The results were predictable: smashed noses, dislocated shoulders, broken necks and fractured skulls. Dozens of young men died, mostly from cerebral hemorrhage. "The sight of a confused mass of educated young men making batter-rams of their bodies, plunging their heads into each others stomachs, piling upon each other or maiming each other for life — sometimes indeed … killing each other … is to me a brutal monstrosity," declared Cornell President Andrew D. White in 1891.Fourteen years later, having ascended to the White House, Roosevelt convened a meeting of coaches from Harvard, Yale and Princeton. Amid newspaper reports of 18 football deaths that fall, the 1905 meeting set in motion a series of reforms to protect players from injury — and to guard the sport from critics who wanted to end it altogether.The most controversial innovation was the forward pass, which would spread players more widely and decrease the amount of contact between them. But the leading opponent of the reform, Yale coach Walter Camp, warned that players streaking downfield would face even greater danger than the ones clumped together near the line of scrimmage. Camp turned out to be correct.The recent increase of concussions — at every level of the sport — is partly due to "pass-first" offenses, which have led to more high-speed collisions. By stopping the game clock for incompletions, passing has also increased the total number of plays and, with it, the opportunities for injury.Ditto for helmets, another reform designed to reduce harm on the field. In the early years of the game, some players grew their hair long to provide a modicum of head protection. Others began to wear leather helmets, which were developed by an Annapolis shoemaker to protect a Navy midshipman after the players doctor told him that he might die from another hit to his head.Enter the plastic helmet, which provided more cushioning. But it also became a weapon in its own right, allowing players to "lead with their heads" as they tackled. Despite new restrictions on that practice, helmet-to-helmet hits remain one of the key causes of concussions and other injuries.And the most common victims are kids, who are starting football at ever-younger ages. Their necks arent fully developed, so they cant brace for a hit the way adults can. And their braincases havent finished hardening, which makes their skulls more vulnerable to impact.By the time they get to high school, kids have a 5% chance of sustaining a concussion for each season they play. And as a 2011 study showed, former football players who sustained two or more concussions in their youth have a significantly higher rate of cognitive impairment as adults.The issue made its way back to the White House in May, when President Obama convened a meeting of coaches, doctors and scientists to discuss sports-related concussions. But the most powerful voice in the room was one that didnt exist back in Roosevelts time: the National Football League.A judge recently approved a settlement to compensate retired NFL players suffering the effects of head injuries that is likely to cost the league several hundred million dollars. It also announced this year that it would donate $45 million to the youth organization it founded, USA Football, in part to expand safety training for coaches.As the richest sports enterprise in America, the NFL can absorb almost any legal hit that comes its way. But our high schools cant. And the league needs them to continue sponsoring football teams, which — alongside college squads — are the main training system for the pros.If he had a son, the president said last year, hed "have to think long and hard" before letting him play football. But the rest of us need to think long and hard too about why were putting so many kids at risk to subsidize a league thats already awash in money. And if we think we can wash away the risk, were kidding ourselves.Identify the incorrect statement.

Understanding where you are in the world is a basic survival skill, which is why we, like most species come hard-wired with specialised brain areas to create cognitive maps of our surroundings. Where humans are unique, though, with the possible exception of honeybees, is that we try to communicate this understanding of the world with others. We have a long history of doing this by drawing maps - the earliest versions yet discovered were scrawled on cave walls 14,000 years ago. Human cultures have been drawing them on stone tablets, papyrus, paper and now computer screens ever since.Given such a long history of human map-making, it is perhaps surprising that it is only within the last few hundred years that north has been consistently considered to be at the top. In fact, for much of human history, north almost never appeared at the top, according to Jerry Brotton, a map historian... "North was rarely put at the top for the simple fact that north is where darkness comes from," he says. "West is also very unlikely to be put at the top because west is where the sun disappears."Confusingly, early Chinese maps seem to buck this trend. But, Brotton, says, even though they did have compasses at the time, that isnt the reason that they placed north at the top. Early Chinese compasses were actually oriented to point south, which was considered to be more desirable than deepest darkest north. But in Chinese maps, the Emperor, who lived in the north of the country was always put at the top of the map, with everyone else, his loyal subjects, looking up towards him. "In Chinese culture the Emperor looks south because its where the winds come from, its a good direction. North is not very good but you are in a position of subjection to the emperor, so you look up to him," says Brotton.Given that each culture has a very different idea of who, or what, they should look up to its perhaps not surprising that there is very little consistency in which way early maps pointed. In ancient Egyptian times the top of the world was east, the position of sunrise. Early Islamic maps favoured south at the top because most of the early Muslim cultures were north of Mecca, so they imagined looking up (south) towards it. Christian maps from the same era (called Mappa Mundi) put east at the top, towards the Garden of Eden and with Jerusalem in the centre.So when did everyone get together and decide that north was the top? Its tempting to put it down to European explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Megellan, who were navigating by the North Star. But Brotton argues that these early explorers didnt think of the world like that at all. "When Columbus describes the world it is in accordance with east being at the top," he says. "Columbus says he is going towards paradise, so his mentality is from a medieval mappa mundi." Weve got to remember, adds Brotton, that at the time, "no one knows what they are doing and where they are going."Q.Early maps did NOT put north at the top for all the following reasons EXCEPT

Directions: The passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.PassageOutside, the rain continued to run down the screened windows of Mrs. Sennetts little Cape Cod cottage. The long weeds and grass that composed the front yard dripped against the blurred background of the bay, where the water was almost the color of the grass. Mrs. Sennetts five charges were vigorously playing house in the dining room. (In the wintertime, Mrs. Sennett was housekeeper for a Mr. Curley, in Boston, and during the summers the Curley children boarded with her on the Cape.)My expression must have changed. "Are those children making too much noise?" Mrs. Sennett demanded, a sort of wave going over her that might mark the beginning of her getting up out of her chair. I shook my head no, and gave her a little push on the shoulder to keep her seated. Mrs. Sennett was almost stone-deaf and had been for a long time, but she could read lips. You could talk to her without making any sound yourself, if you wanted to, and she more than kept up her side of the conversation in a loud, rusty voice that dropped weirdly every now and then into a whisper. She adored talking.To look at Mrs. Sennett made me think of eighteenth-century England and its literary figures. Her hair must have been sadly thin, because she always wore, indoors and out, either a hat or a sort of turban, and sometimes she wore both. The rims of her eyes were dark; she looked very ill.Mrs. Sennett and I continued talking. She said she really didnt think shed stay with the children another winter. Their father wanted her to, but it was too much for her. She wanted to stay right here in the cottage. The afternoon was getting along, and I finally left because I knew that at four oclock Mrs. Sennetts "sit down" was over and she started to get supper. At six oclock, from my nearby cottage, I saw Theresa coming through the rain with a shawl over her head. She was bringing me a six-inch-square piece of spice cake, still hot from the oven and kept warm between two soup plates.A few days later I learned from the twins, who brought over gifts of firewood and blackberries, that their father was coming the next morning, bringing their aunt and her husband and their cousin. Mrs. Sennett had promised to take them all on a picnic at the pond some pleasant day. On the fourth day of their visit, Xavier arrived with a note. It was from Mrs. Sennett, written in blue ink, in a large, serene, ornamented hand, on linen-finish paper:Tomorrow is the last day Mr. Curley has and the Children all wanted the Picnic so much. The Men can walk to the Pond but it is too far for the Children. I see your Friend has a car and I hate to ask this but could you possibly drive us to the Pond tomorrow morning?Very sincerely yours,Carmen SennettAfter the picnic, Mrs. Sennetts presents to me were numberless. It was almost time for the children to go back to school in South Boston. Mrs. Sennett insisted that she was not going; their father was coming down again to get them and she was just going to stay. He would have to get another housekeeper. She said this over and over to me, loudly, and her turbans and kerchiefs grew more and more distrait.One evening, Mary came to call on me and we sat on an old table in the back yard to watch the sunset. "Papa came today," she said, "and weve got to go back day after tomorrow.""Is Mrs. Sennett going to stay here?""She said at supper she was. She said this time she really was, because shed said that last year and came back, but now she means it." I said, "Oh dear," scarcely knowing which side I was on."It was awful at supper. I cried and cried.""Did Theresa cry?""Oh, we all cried. Papa cried, too. We always do.""But dont you think Mrs. Sennett needs a rest?""Yes, but I think shell come, though. Papa told her hed cry every single night at supper if she didnt, and then we all did."The next day I heard that Mrs. Sennett was going back with them just to "help settle." She came over the following morning to say goodbye, supported by all five children. She was wearing her traveling hat of black satin and black straw, with sequins. High and somber, above her ravaged face, it had quite a Spanish-grandee air."This isnt really goodbye, "she said." Ill be back as soon as I get these bad, noisy children off myhands". But the children hung on to her skirt and tugged at her sleeves, shaking their heads frantically, silently saying, "No! No! No!" to her with their puckered-up mouths.Q.What is the main insight suggested by the conversation given in the passage?

Directions: The passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.PassageOutside, the rain continued to run down the screened windows of Mrs. Sennetts little Cape Cod cottage. The long weeds and grass that composed the front yard dripped against the blurred background of the bay, where the water was almost the color of the grass. Mrs. Sennetts five charges were vigorously playing house in the dining room. (In the wintertime, Mrs. Sennett was housekeeper for a Mr. Curley, in Boston, and during the summers the Curley children boarded with her on the Cape.)My expression must have changed. "Are those children making too much noise?" Mrs. Sennett demanded, a sort of wave going over her that might mark the beginning of her getting up out of her chair. I shook my head no, and gave her a little push on the shoulder to keep her seated. Mrs. Sennett was almost stone-deaf and had been for a long time, but she could read lips. You could talk to her without making any sound yourself, if you wanted to, and she more than kept up her side of the conversation in a loud, rusty voice that dropped weirdly every now and then into a whisper. She adored talking.To look at Mrs. Sennett made me think of eighteenth-century England and its literary figures. Her hair must have been sadly thin, because she always wore, indoors and out, either a hat or a sort of turban, and sometimes she wore both. The rims of her eyes were dark; she looked very ill.Mrs. Sennett and I continued talking. She said she really didnt think shed stay with the children another winter. Their father wanted her to, but it was too much for her. She wanted to stay right here in the cottage. The afternoon was getting along, and I finally left because I knew that at four oclock Mrs. Sennetts "sit down" was over and she started to get supper. At six oclock, from my nearby cottage, I saw Theresa coming through the rain with a shawl over her head. She was bringing me a six-inch-square piece of spice cake, still hot from the oven and kept warm between two soup plates.A few days later I learned from the twins, who brought over gifts of firewood and blackberries, that their father was coming the next morning, bringing their aunt and her husband and their cousin. Mrs. Sennett had promised to take them all on a picnic at the pond some pleasant day. On the fourth day of their visit, Xavier arrived with a note. It was from Mrs. Sennett, written in blue ink, in a large, serene, ornamented hand, on linen-finish paper:Tomorrow is the last day Mr. Curley has and the Children all wanted the Picnic so much. The Men can walk to the Pond but it is too far for the Children. I see your Friend has a car and I hate to ask this but could you possibly drive us to the Pond tomorrow morning?Very sincerely yours,Carmen SennettAfter the picnic, Mrs. Sennetts presents to me were numberless. It was almost time for the children to go back to school in South Boston. Mrs. Sennett insisted that she was not going; their father was coming down again to get them and she was just going to stay. He would have to get another housekeeper. She said this over and over to me, loudly, and her turbans and kerchiefs grew more and more distrait.One evening, Mary came to call on me and we sat on an old table in the back yard to watch the sunset. "Papa came today," she said, "and weve got to go back day after tomorrow.""Is Mrs. Sennett going to stay here?""She said at supper she was. She said this time she really was, because shed said that last year and came back, but now she means it." I said, "Oh dear," scarcely knowing which side I was on."It was awful at supper. I cried and cried.""Did Theresa cry?""Oh, we all cried. Papa cried, too. We always do.""But dont you think Mrs. Sennett needs a rest?""Yes, but I think shell come, though. Papa told her hed cry every single night at supper if she didnt, and then we all did."The next day I heard that Mrs. Sennett was going back with them just to "help settle." She came over the following morning to say goodbye, supported by all five children. She was wearing her traveling hat of black satin and black straw, with sequins. High and somber, above her ravaged face, it had quite a Spanish-grandee air."This isnt really goodbye, "she said." Ill be back as soon as I get these bad, noisy children off myhands". But the children hung on to her skirt and tugged at her sleeves, shaking their heads frantically, silently saying, "No! No! No!" to her with their puckered-up mouths.Q.It is reasonable to infer from the passage that Mrs. Sennett asked Are those children making too much noise? because Mrs. Sennett

Directions: The passage below is followed by a question based on its content. Answer the question on the basis of what is stated or implied in the passage.PassageOutside, the rain continued to run down the screened windows of Mrs. Sennetts little Cape Cod cottage. The long weeds and grass that composed the front yard dripped against the blurred background of the bay, where the water was almost the color of the grass. Mrs. Sennetts five charges were vigorously playing house in the dining room. (In the wintertime, Mrs. Sennett was housekeeper for a Mr. Curley, in Boston, and during the summers the Curley children boarded with her on the Cape.)My expression must have changed. "Are those children making too much noise?" Mrs. Sennett demanded, a sort of wave going over her that might mark the beginning of her getting up out of her chair. I shook my head no, and gave her a little push on the shoulder to keep her seated. Mrs. Sennett was almost stone-deaf and had been for a long time, but she could read lips. You could talk to her without making any sound yourself, if you wanted to, and she more than kept up her side of the conversation in a loud, rusty voice that dropped weirdly every now and then into a whisper. She adored talking.To look at Mrs. Sennett made me think of eighteenth-century England and its literary figures. Her hair must have been sadly thin, because she always wore, indoors and out, either a hat or a sort of turban, and sometimes she wore both. The rims of her eyes were dark; she looked very ill.Mrs. Sennett and I continued talking. She said she really didnt think shed stay with the children another winter. Their father wanted her to, but it was too much for her. She wanted to stay right here in the cottage. The afternoon was getting along, and I finally left because I knew that at four oclock Mrs. Sennetts "sit down" was over and she started to get supper. At six oclock, from my nearby cottage, I saw Theresa coming through the rain with a shawl over her head. She was bringing me a six-inch-square piece of spice cake, still hot from the oven and kept warm between two soup plates.A few days later I learned from the twins, who brought over gifts of firewood and blackberries, that their father was coming the next morning, bringing their aunt and her husband and their cousin. Mrs. Sennett had promised to take them all on a picnic at the pond some pleasant day. On the fourth day of their visit, Xavier arrived with a note. It was from Mrs. Sennett, written in blue ink, in a large, serene, ornamented hand, on linen-finish paper:Tomorrow is the last day Mr. Curley has and the Children all wanted the Picnic so much. The Men can walk to the Pond but it is too far for the Children. I see your Friend has a car and I hate to ask this but could you possibly drive us to the Pond tomorrow morning?Very sincerely yours,Carmen SennettAfter the picnic, Mrs. Sennetts presents to me were numberless. It was almost time for the children to go back to school in South Boston. Mrs. Sennett insisted that she was not going; their father was coming down again to get them and she was just going to stay. He would have to get another housekeeper. She said this over and over to me, loudly, and her turbans and kerchiefs grew more and more distrait.One evening, Mary came to call on me and we sat on an old table in the back yard to watch the sunset. "Papa came today," she said, "and weve got to go back day after tomorrow.""Is Mrs. Sennett going to stay here?""She said at supper she was. She said this time she really was, because shed said that last year and came back, but now she means it." I said, "Oh dear," scarcely knowing which side I was on."It was awful at supper. I cried and cried.""Did Theresa cry?""Oh, we all cried. Papa cried, too. We always do.""But dont you think Mrs. Sennett needs a rest?""Yes, but I think shell come, though. Papa told her hed cry every single night at supper if she didnt, and then we all did." The next day I heard that Mrs. Sennett was going back with them just to "help settle." She came over the following morning to say goodbye, supported by all five children. She was wearing her traveling hat of black satin and black straw, with sequins. High and somber, above her ravaged face, it had quite a Spanish-grandee air."This isnt really goodbye," she said. "Ill be back as soon as I get these bad, noisy children off myhands." But the children hung on to her skirt and tugged at her sleeves, shaking their heads frantically, silently saying, "No! No! No!" to her with their puckered-up mouths.Q. Considering the events of the entire passage, it is most reasonable to infer that Mrs. Sennett calls the children bad because she

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How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct answer is 'have you been playing'. Can you explain this answer?
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How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct answer is 'have you been playing'. Can you explain this answer? for CAT 2025 is part of CAT preparation. The Question and answers have been prepared according to the CAT exam syllabus. Information about How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct answer is 'have you been playing'. Can you explain this answer? covers all topics & solutions for CAT 2025 Exam. Find important definitions, questions, meanings, examples, exercises and tests below for How long__________ (play) the piano? "Since I was 5."Correct answer is 'have you been playing'. Can you explain this answer?.
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