borrow

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Nanshida
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Joined: Sat Oct 09, 2021 11:54 am
Status: Teacher of English
Location: China, Shandong, Jining

borrow

Post by Nanshida »

Hi everyone!
I’d like to ask a question about the usage of the verb "borrow".
My friend, Tom, borrowed a book from the school library. I know the borrowing/keeping period for a book is 20 days in our school library. I want to borrow the book from Tom. So I want to know how long he has kept the book. I know I can ask him this: “How long have you kept the book?” I’d also like to know whether I can replace the verb “kept” in the sentence with “borrowed” to have the same meaning.
darcy
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Location: Oxford, UK

Re: borrow

Post by darcy »

Both kept and borrowed are OK. As a native speaker, I would probably use 'had': 'How long have you had the book?' or 'How long have you had it since you borrowed it?'
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