grammar

Question

HelloWhat is the difference between : - Have you read shakespare- did you read shakespare thank you

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Have you read Shakespeare? OK
Did you read Shakespeare? This is less natural. It seems incomplete. Say: Did you read Shakespeare's plays in high school?

Englishmaven · Answer

Use the simple past (Did you read Shakespeare?) when you are referring to a specific time in the past. Did you read Shakespeare last Sunday?

Use the present perfect (Have you read Shakespeare?) to express something that occurred between some time in the past and this moment. Since I last spoke with you, have you read Shakespeare?

This is a simplistic explanation, but it is the basic difference. It is about how we perceive the passing of time.

I called ten times.
I have called ten times.

There is not a great difference between the two sentences, but we perceive the passing of time to be different. We are looking more at the longer passing of time with the present perfect from the past until now, but in the two examples in red, there is not a tremendous difference in meaning.

Since you left, Paul called ten times.
Since you left, Paul has called ten times.

There is no appreciable difference between the two sentences.

Samersamer1974 · Answer

Hello
had it better to say: have you ever read shakespare
is it more safe to say that , and i mean it is safe for me in conversation to say that instead of thinking to use one of them
thank you

CalifJim · Answer

samersamer1974What is the difference between "Have you read Shakespeare?" and "Did you read Shakespeare?"

Mostly the difference is the context in which they are appropriate.

In a conversation about reading in general, for example, if someone says that they like to read, you might ask "Have you ever read any of Shakespeare's plays?" You can open the topic of Shakespeare even in this general kind of talk.

If, during the course of a conversation, someone mentions that they took a course several years ago in which they read works of classic playwrights from Moliere to Chekhov. The topic of plays has already been opened, and Shakespeare can easily be considered one of the "classic playwrights" already mentioned in the conversation. You ask for a specific detail about this topic. You ask, "Did you read Shakespeare as well?"
_____________

In the first conversation described above, you ask if someone has had the experience of reading Shakespeare at any time during their life. The specific time doesn't matter. In the second one, you ask for information about a specific time period — the time when this other person took a course several years ago.

Generally, unspecific time = present perfect tense = have read and specific time = simple past = read. This difference is important when determining the appropriateness of one tense or another.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

samersamer1974had it better to say: have you ever read shakespare is it more safe to say that

No. Quite the opposite. If you are in the middle of a conversation and get totally confused about which tense to use (present perfect or simple past), then just guess the simple past. More often than not you'll be right.

Eventually you'll get the hang of it and be able to select tenses automatically. What I advised above is just a stop-gap measure you can use until you have more experience speaking English.

CJ

Samersamer1974 · Answer

Hello
okay I understand what you said ,but for another time to understand the other sentences ,can i say :
- did you read Skaspare once
- or have you read Skaspare once
thank you very much

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