Teach me English?

Question

My first language is Japanese. Please teach me English.

Situation: Mike has a book which is really thick.

What is the natural expression for school English under the situation?

1 Mike is reading this book for five days.
2 Mike has read this book for five days.
3 or anything else?

Does 1st make sense? 'cause Mike deoesnt read the book while he is sleaping in the night.

Thanx in advance.

Those are really confusing for me.

What is the defferences??

Thank you in advance

Answer 1

Mike has been reading this book for five days.

The first, "is reading," refers to a present action, not one taking place over a span of time. You could say, "Mike is reading this book," but it would not be appropriate to include a time span.

The second, "has read," refers to a past action, but not one taking place over a span of time. You could say "Mike has read this book," if he has finished it, but again, it would not be appropriate to include a time span.

"Mike has been reading" implies he is still currently reading the book (perhaps not literally right now, but he has not yet finished the book). If Mike is done reading the book, you might consider, "Mike took five days to read this book."

Answer 2

Joe,

1 and 2 and incorrect.

And considering that your English is excellent,
here is the way it should read:

"Mike has been reading this book for five days now.
At the rate Mike is reading, it will take him about one
month to finish this book. I can hardly wait until
Mike finishes reading this book, as I wish to read
it too. I think I will be able to read it faster than
Michael, as I intend to stay up at night, reading it.
So I should be done reading the book in 5 to 7 days.

Would anybody out there like to borrow the book
once Mike and I are done reading it?

Simply let me know and I shall forward it to you.

Thank you very much -
Wakarimasen and Arigato.
From Vim-San

Answer 3

#2 Mike has read this book for 5 days.

Not reading the book while he is sleeping at night is understood & has nothing to do with the sentence.

#1 sentence could be Mike is reading this book. But if he's reading the book for 5 days you can't use the word is. The word "is" is a verb in the present tense.

Answer 4

Well, if you're going to go with the first sentence, then the next would be, logically speaking, "Mike HAS BEEN reading this book for 5 days."

Answer 5

no the ist one doesn't make sense, it should be like "Mike has read this book for five days"
It's ok if you don't really know English.
and when u say Mike doesnt read the book while he is sleaping in the night, it should be
" Mike doesn't read the book while he sleeps at night"

Answer 6

You could say:

Mike will read the book for five days.
It will take Mike five days to read the book.
Mike read the book for five days.
Mike has been reading this book for five days.

All of those would be common ways of saying it.

Answer 7

Mike has been reading this book for five days.
or
Mike has read this book for five days

1st sentence makes sense, but your not saying what you mean.
2nd sentence makes sense, but it sounds awkward to english natives.

good luck on learning english!

Answer 8

Im in australia so our English is different to Americans so Ill give you what we do here..
The 1st is a no no.. it makes no sense
the 2nd I would say would be the closest to what would be used here, however it would probably say something like
'Mike has been reading this book for five days"

Answer 9

mike will be reading this book for five days.

Answer 10

Bravo! This is what this forum should be all about. Learning and teaching.

I'll bet that in less then 24 h we'll have to correct AnswerGal's English; unless she stays away from writing for that long. This is a challenge girl.