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As he's gone/left

English Language Learners Asked by user118185 on February 20, 2021

Ben enters the restroom, checks for feet under the stalls, then heads back out. As he’s gone, a pair of feet appears in a stall and Greg comes out of his hide.

Questions to this:

  1. Is "checks for feet under the stalls" okay? Or should it be "stall doors"?

  2. Is "as he’s gone" grammatically correct? Or should it be "as he’s left"?

2 Answers

  1. The option "stall doors" is correct here. The "stalls" in a restroom are themselves the small rooms with toilets.
  2. The word "as" can be used to link two verbs happening concurrently, like "when" or "while", but this pattern is used for verbs in the continuous aspect ("he leaves/goes"), not the perfect aspect ("he's gone"):
    • "As he sank into the bath, he thought about his day."
    • "As I eat my sandwich, Susan plays the piano."
    • "You will notice many beautiful buildings as you drive down Main Street."

In this case, you might use the present continuous "as he leaves" or "as he goes". If you mean that the feet appear after Ben leaves the restroom, then another phrase would be more appropriate: "As soon as he leaves", "after he's gone", etc.

Answered by James M on February 20, 2021

  1. A "stall" is the booth itself, not the door to the stall. So I'd suggest it should be "stall doors".

  2. I prefer "once he's gone" (which would suggest Ben's left the restroom and is moving down the hall (or wherever)) or "as he leaves" (which suggests the feet appear just as Ben is passing back into the hall (or wherever) from the restroom). But also, feet wouldn't appear in a stall, unless they're some sort of magic item...I think that needs a re-word - maybe "a pair of feet become visible under the stall door" - I think it depends from what angle you want the reader to visualise what's going on. Also, I think "a pair of feet appear" sounds better than "a pair of feet appears" - that doesn't appear to be correct to me.

Answered by Adam on February 20, 2021

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