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Perfect Stranger Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Grammar question no. 29 - have left and have gotten VS left and got

Howdy,
  1. A friend of mine has asked me two questions.
Has your work situation changed? Can you bring your part time contact next time?

Should I reply:
  • My work situation has gotten complicated. I'm afraid I have left the part time contract in the office.

or

  • My work situation got complicated. I'm afraid I left the part time contract in the office.


As far as I understand the present perfect tense I should use the first option because my work situation has been somehow influenced by the complications and as for the second sentence I think I should use the present perfect because a) I don't know the specific time when I left the contract in the office and b) I don't have it now (present consequence of a past action)


Please tell me if my way of thinking is correct or not. I still hear a lot of people use the past simple in such situations and I don't know why.
  

Top answer

Perfect Stranger I still hear a lot of people use the past simple in such situations and I don't know why. Because you may use either.

— Mister Micawber

  • Perfect Stranger I still hear a lot of people use the past simple in such situations and I don't know why.
  • Because you may use either.
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8 Answers
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Perfect Stranger I still hear a lot of people use the past simple in such situations and I don't know why.
Because you may use either.
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Thank you.

If there's no difference between them then what's the point of having these two tenses in English if one could do just fine? I think there must be some difference. I'd like to know if my reasoning written in the previous post is correct or not.
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Perfect Stranger I still hear a lot of people use the past simple in such situations and I don't know why.
In many cases there is very little difference.

My work situation has gotten complicated. (Emphasis on the recency of this situation. My work situation is still complicated.)
My work situation got compl
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Thanks AS.

Let me try to analyze the second sentence:

If I say I'm afraid I've left the papers at the office as opposed I left... then:

a) I don't know when I left the papers.
b) I don't have them now.
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Perfect StrangerShould I reply:My work situation has gotten complicated. I'm afraid I have left the part time contract in the office.
Yes. I would reply like this because the question was "Has ... changed?" i.e., in the present perfect. You are being asked for an update of how things stand with you as of this moment. You are not being asked for a narrative
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Perfect StrangerShould I reply:My work situation has gotten complicated. I'm afraid I have left the part time contract in the office.orMy work situation got complicated. I'm afraid I left the part time contract in the office.
I love the analysis; I do it myself. But I still think we are leading learners astray by indulging in it. A native is just as likely t
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Perfect StrangerIf I say I'm afraid I've left the papers at the office as opposed I left... then:a) I don't know when I left the papers.b) I don't have them now.
I don't see that these considerations have any influence on the choice of tense.

You can use the simple past with or without a mention of time, so it doesn't matter whether you know when you
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Here are a few of my thoughts.

We commonly answer such questions using the same tense as the questioner used.

We usually give short answers, not the long, repetitious ones that often appear in English text books.

Please read the second
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