Friendly conversation

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I'm having a chat with a friend:I've met this girl recently and we have so much in common!  Or  Should it be:I met this girl recently and we have so much in common!Thanks in advance

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

"I met" seems more natural to me in this sentence.

PreciousJones · Answer

But if Im having the conversation in the present shouldn't I use the present perfent tense?

Mr Wordy · Answer

PreciousJones
But if Im having the conversation in the present shouldn't I use the present perfent tense?

Well, just because the conversation is in the present doesn't mean you use the present perfect for everything. For example, you use the simple past in "I went to my friend's house yesterday", "I woke up early this morning", and innumerable other sentences.

Generally speaking, "I've met this girl" is fine ("this" is casual), and it connects the meeting with the present more strongly than "I met this girl". In your sentence this is actually the desired effect, but it's the word "recently" that, for me, signals the use of "I met" in preference to "I've met". This seems to be because it more strongly evokes the actual occasion of the meeting, which is a specific point in past time, and thus (in this case) is better expressed by the simple past. I'm not sure that's a completely convincing explanation, but it's all I can think of!

Mr Wordy · Answer

I'm becoming less and less convinced about this. Looking again, both versions seem OK (and "I've met" could even be preferable). I don't really know what I was thinking of, so probably best to ignore my earlier waffle. Sorry!

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