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PreciousJones Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Did you eat?

My mom asks: Did you eat?

I reply with:

Yes, I ate. Or

Yes, I've eaten.

Which is correct?
  

Top answer

To either of these questions ( Did you eat? Have you eaten? ), you are free to reply in real English with either of these answers ( Yes, I've eaten.

  • To either of these questions ( Did you eat?
  • Have you eaten?
  • ), you are free to reply in real English with either of these answers ( Yes, I've eaten.
  • Yes, I ate.
  • ), but in real real English, the answers would be Yes I did , Yes I have , or just Yes.
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5 Answers
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To either of these questions (Did you eat? Have you eaten?), you are free to reply in real English with either of these answers (Yes, I've eaten. Yes, I ate.), but in real real English, the answers would be Yes I did, Yes I have, or just Yes.
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What's the difference between real English and real real English??
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The latter is even more real.
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Mister MicawberThe latter is even more real.
They both seem like real answers to me....
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No.

To the question 'Have you eaten?', the prescriptivist non-native teacher will demand 'Yes, I have eaten' as the response. This is simply unrealistic, quite unnatural, and not in use.

The teacher more aware of how the language works will prefer 'Yes, I ate', knowing that while the question references an indefinite past point, the answer will more naturally reflect the speaker

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