It's been a long time since I've seen her

Question

Recently I've been increasingly noticing that in movies and TV shows people increasingly use the structure in the subject (It's been a long time since I've seen her/since I've done that/since I've been there etc) to mean that they haven't seen her/done that/been there in a long time.

The problem is that I can't make heads or tails of this usage because it simply can't seem to make sense to me. It would appear that if a long time has past since the last time you did something, that point in time, that action that you last did a long time ago, should be denoted with a simple past tense, because it's over and done with, it's in the past so you have the present perfect in the main clause - it's been a long time, followed by since to denote the point in the past since which the long time has passed, and then you would, normally, use a past simple verb to say what happened at that point in time long ago that you now haven't done for such a long time.

But no, increasingly people are using the present perfect after 'since' to refer to that action in the past since which such a long time has passed.

So my question is how do natives make sense of this structure, how would they explain to themselves (or to someone who asked them) the use of a present perfect verb in the since clause?

Thank you.

Canadian45 · Accepted Answer

igorfazlyevRecently I've been ~~increasingly~~ noticing that in movies and TV shows people increasingly use the structure in the subject (It's been a long time since I've seen her/since I've done that/since I've been there etc) to mean that they haven't seen her/done that/been there in a long time. The problem is that I can't make heads or tails of this usage because it simply can't seem to make sense to me. It would appear that if a long time has past since the last time you did something, that point in time, that action that you last did a long time ago, should be denoted with a simple past tense, You certainly can use simple past tense.
'It's a long time since I (saw her)(did that)(was there).'

because it's over and done with, it's in the past so you have the present perfect in the main clause - it's been a long time, followed by since to denote the point in the past since which the long time has passed, and then you would, normally, use a past simple verb to say what happened at that point in time long ago that you now haven't done for such a long time.But no, increasingly people are using the present perfect after 'since' to refer to that action in the past since which such a long time has passed. What kind of English So my question is how do natives make sense of this structure, how would they explain to themselves (or to someone who asked them) the use of a present perfect verb in the since clause?

What kind of English are you exposed to or studying. British English speakers are certainly more fond of present perfect tense than North-American English speakers are. In fact some British speakers seem to be overly fond of present perfect tense, at least from this North American speaker's perspective.
c45

Igorfazlyev · Answer

funnily enough it's mostly American English that I'm exposed to.

Last time I heard 'It's a long time since I've seen him' was in the last season of Angel (a relatively old Buffyverse vampire series) where in one scene the main character is talking about how he hasn't seen his son for a long time. The show is American, the actor, David Boreanaz is also American and yet in that scene he clearly said, 'It's been a long time since I've seen him'

Canadian45 · Answer

igorfazlyevFunny enough, it's mostly American English that I'm exposed to. The show is American, the actor, David Boreanaz is also American and yet in that scene he clearly said, 'It's been a long time since I've seen him.'
I know that it's not just British people who say such things. Anyway, we don't have to use perfect tense in such situations.

c45

CalifJim · Answer

It's been a long time since I've seen her ...

See

and surrounding posts.

You'll find an explanation that is directly related to your question, but also additional material you might find useful.

CJ

Igorfazlyev · Answer

thanks for the link and the explanation.

It does seem like more of a rationalization than an explanation to me though.

Semantically, I kind of fail to see the difference in referential meaning between, for example, these two sentences:

(1) I haven't seen a good movie in a long time

(2) The last time I saw a good movie was a long time ago.

again, with these two sentences in mind, what if we then take this sentence

It's been a long time since I've seen a good movie

(it's from your explanation in the other thread) and insert 'the last time' after since like so:

It's been a long time since the last time ....

now how would you finish this sentence? Would it be 'since the last time I saw a good movie' or would it be 'since the last time I've seen a good movie'

My understanding (which of course may have been wrong all along) of the meaning of since has always been that it kind of implies a certain rather specific point in the past 'since the last time'. Or is it different when you're talking about not having done something in a long time?

Another point/problem that I see here is that if you use present perfect after since, the meaning can be rather ambiguous.

For example if you say

It's been a long time since I've been here.

To my mind, this can be interpreted to mean that you have been here for a long time. Like, for example, if I say

It's been a long time since I've known her.

which is another way of saying

It's been a long time since I first met her (referring to the specific event of me meeting her for the first time)

Obviously, I don't think many people would interpret

It's been a long time since I've known her

in the biblical sense.

But nevertheless, your explanation (rationalization) in the other thread is really good, it almost reads like a 'rule', so thank you for referring me to it.

Canadian45 · Answer

canadian45 Which rule is that?

Canadian45 · Answer

igorfazlyev the 'rule' in the link that CalifJim came up with.
Roughly what he said there is that if you're talking about something that you haven't done in a long time but which you still do occasionally, repeatedly or habitually, like watching good movies - from time to time you get to see a good move - then you're supposed to use present perfect after 'since' as in
It's been a long time since I've seen a good movie.
According to CalifJim, if I understood him correctly, is that in this case present perfect is the tense to use because even though you haven't seen a good movie in some time it's still something that you haven't done in 'indefinite time' because you still get to see a good movie from time to time.
I personally don't know, the more I write about it the less sense it makes, because I always assumed that 'since' always meant a specific point in time so that whenever you say it's been a long time since, a certain specific point in the past is always implied since which a long time has passed.
Obviously these things are changing.

Canadian45 · Answer

canadian45 One problem with words like "a long time" and 'recently', which is a word very often used when people are trying to explain present perfect tense, is that "a long time" and "recently" are obviously relative terms. So I think that terms like that are not very helpful to students.

Anyway, native English speakers everywhere use present perfect tense every day, but there are few occasions, only one that comes to mind right now, in which you have to use present perfect tense. The main situation that requires that tense is when you are describing a presently-ongoing situation.
a) I have lived in Spain for six years.
b) I have studied English for ten months.
If you are still (living)(studying), you must use present perfect tense. (

So, if you otherwise prefer to use simple past tense, you can do that in many situations

Canadian45 · Answer

I copied the last few posts to the main thread from 'private chat'. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out how the two are supposed to interact. I guess they probably are meant to be separate.

It's been a long time since I've seen her

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