Confused - past vs. present perfect

Hi,

It's quite accepted that after "just" you should use the present perfect tense. However, most of the people

don't actually follow that rule and use past simple instead. It's a matter of writing style.

1. Both are O.K, but if I don't know the complete context, I can't advise you which one is better to use.

2. Did you talk to him or have you talked to him? The

My observaton is this. Most people do not necessarily process every word in their brains for analysis. In everyday conversation, a lot of people just want to get the bulk message across without practicing precise tense and grammar, and it's rather common. For myself, I'd try to maintain grammatical consistency, so If I used past tense, I always try to use some form of time marker or time relevent

Yes, but the analysis you gave doesn't answer his questions, does it?
He said he always gets confused using the appropriate tense (present perfect or
past simple) in particular sentences, and you caused him, I believe, to get even more confused.
Don't forget you're speaking with an English learner.
In my opinion, your answer is too general and might've been a good one for another

I believed the poster has enough depth in English to distinguish past and the present. The only piece missing is a perspective from which he is speaking from. Yes I didn't directly solve his problem. What I provided is an observation and perhaps a perspective from the natural English point of view. If I wanted to be specific about something which happened in past time, I should speak in the frame

dimsumexpress I am not sure if all that makes sense to the poster.

I'm not sure too. I still think he's asked for a simple and accurate answer. Learners do have to develop

a perspective view in their mind, but first they have to know the essential basics of the language.

I assume the poster asked his question, pointing out "I often get confu

I am afraid the kind of uncertainty will not be eraised by a few questions posted in the forum. Some questions are just impossible to answer by grammar rules. I'd consider this a natural process which means learning through times,listening and reading how natives use the language. It takes time. Sadly though, nowadays many college grads can't even tell the difference and functions of a phrase from

1. I left him a voice message OR I have left him a voice message.

2. Did you talk to him OR have talked to him?

3. I just spoke with one of your colleagues OR I have just spoken with one of your colleagues.

4. John just stopped by to say hello OR John had stopped by to say hello.

5. I had breakfast OR I have had breakfast.

The

MusicgoldI get confused about whether to use past or present perfect in everyday situations. Here are some examples. I am not sure which ones are more appropriate.

We probably get more questions on this than on any other topic in English. I don't think anyone is ever completely satisfied with the answers. Apparently it's as difficult to understand the differ

Great as always Cj!

Hi CJ,

I agree we have nothing to do with these sentences when the whole context is not given.

Each sentence can be correct by itself, but in the "real-world situations" we can't create a coherent meaning with fragments or half sentences only. Therefore, I'll attempt to conclude what you've just said.

If the action takes place in the past but still influences the current