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Pastsimple Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

No, thanks, I quit.

Hello,

I heard the following in a film once:

A: Cigarette?

B: No, thanks, I quit.

Why is speaker B using the past simple? Is there some implicit time adverbial (i.e. he's thinking about the time he quit and how proud he was about it back then)?

I think that I've quit would seem more logical (i.e. a piece of news, an effect on the present, unspecified time in the past).

Thanks in advance for your suggestions. Emotion: smile
  

Top answer

Hi, I heard the following in a film once: A: Cigarette? B: No, thanks, I quit. Why is speaker B using the past simple?

— Clive

  • Hi, I heard the following in a film once: A: Cigarette?
  • B: No, thanks, I quit.
  • Why is speaker B using the past simple?
  • e.
  • he's thinking about the time he quit Yes and how proud he was about it back then)?
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4 Answers
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Hi,

I heard the following in a film once:

A: Cigarette?

B: No, thanks, I quit.

Why is speaker B using the past simple? Is there some implicit time adverbial Yes

(i.e. he's thinking about the time he quit Yes

an
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Hmmm...good question, and I won't try to answer it because I might be wrong. But one thing I'm fairly certain of is that the punctuation isn't correct. It should be, "No, thanks. I quit" instead of "No, thanks, I quit." I used to be a stenographer and I was fairly proficient with issues concerning punctuation, but it's been a long time. I think the reason I can't help with the "I quit/I've qu
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Although, when I think more deeply about it, if you extend that sentence and say, "No, thanks, I quit many years ago," it's obvious that that's not incorrect. So why wouldn't it be correct if you dropped off the "many years ago" and just said, "No, thanks, I quit"?
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Traditionally, BrE uses the present perfect to talk about an event in the recent past and with the words already, just and yet. In American usage these meanings can be expressed with the present perfect or the simple past . This American style has become widespread only in the past 20 to 30 years; the British style is still in common use as well.
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