Past simple and Present perfect (British ENG and American ENG)

Question

Hello, I heard someone saying that in American Eng does not really use present perfect tense.

1. Would it be true?

2. What if I say "I did not eat burgers for a long time" instead of saying " I have not eaten burgers fo a long time?"

(Which means that since long time ago no burgers, up until now)

Do these 2 sentences mean the same??

3. I tend to say " I did not eat burgers for a long time" rather than "I have not eaten burgers for a long time" to mean (imply) that I am not eating it even right now. Is this wrong in British ENG or in American ENG or in both.

I would be more than happy if someone could answer to my above questions.

Thank you in advance

Regards

Yoshi

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

Hello, Yoshi,

Hello, I heard someone saying that in American Eng does not really use present perfect tense.

1. Would it be true?-- No, that is not true, but they use simple past more often than Brits do for past experiences.

2. What if I say "I did not eat burgers for a long time" instead of saying " I have not eaten burgers fo a long time?"

(Which means that since long time ago no burgers, up until now) Do these 2 sentences mean the same??- Yes, they mean the same. However, with the addition of 'for a long time', few people either side of the Atlantic would use simple past.

3. I tend to say " I did not eat burgers for a long time" rather than "I have not eaten burgers for a long time" to mean (imply) that I am not eating it even right now. Is this wrong in British ENG or in American ENG or in both.- It is not generally accepted by either group.

Manatsito · Answer

I think when we learn how to use English, we should understand the meaning of each tense and how each tense is used and and when we use, it should make sense with the situation.

1. I don't think that America doen't really use perfect tense. As my eperience, they use it and it is used more in the movie.

2. Both sentences can be used, it depends on what you tend to say.

3. If I were you I would say " I haven't eaten burgers for a long time." because the action continues until now, it connects with now or present.

Shanks8532 · Answer

Mister Micawber

I appreciate your cmprehensible answers. Now they make sense to me. If you say not true, then it should not true, I guess

Thank you very much.

Yoshi

manatsito

Thank you very much too. As you said I should make the situation and contex clearer when I make an inquiry

so that teachers can give right on answers to that. Koppun kap.

Yoshi

CalifJim · Answer

Shanks8532I heard someone saying that in American Eng does not really use present perfect tense.
1. Would it be true?

No. Americans use the present perfect almost as much as the British. The difference in frequency is so miniscule that you wouldn't be able to tell the difference without doing a statistical study. There are only a very few situations where AmE and BrE speakers differ in their preferences regarding the present perfect tense.

The reason is that this tense is used when the speaker feels that the statement has "current relevance". This requires speaker judgment. As the grammarian Palmer has put it, "There is one fundamental difficulty about relevance: it is not easy to define what is and what is not relevant. British speakers seem to use the perfect wherever there seems to be any kind of relevance. ... There is no reason to suppose that the function [of this tense] is different in American speech, only that the interpretation of relevance is stricter."

Shanks85322. What if I say "I did not eat burgers for a long time" instead of saying " I have not eaten burgers fo a long time?"
(Which means that since long time ago no burgers, up until now)
Do these 2 sentences mean the same??

No. They are not the same, and both American and British speakers know this. Diagramatically, where X marks the present moment,

..........[did not eat].................X...............

.............[ have not eaten ]X....................

Shanks85323. I tend to say " I did not eat burgers for a long time" rather than "I have not eaten burgers for a long time" to mean (imply) that I am not eating it even right now. Is this wrong in British ENG or in American ENG or in both.

It is wrong in both.
_____________

Any idea you have that the present perfect has a different meaning in AmE than in BrE is not correct. The meaning is the same everywhere. Only the frequency of usage is different, and for all practical purposes you can just dismiss that as a curiosity which should have no effect on your study of English and may as well be forgotten.

CJ

Shanks8532 · Answer

Dear CJ

Thank you very much for your kind reply. I worked out the difference seeing this

..........[did not eat].................X...............

.............[ have not eaten ]X...................

I 've also felt that it is no use caring about the difference between them in improving English, but I appreciate that you have sated my curiosity.

Thank you

Yoshi

Past simple and Present perfect (British ENG and American ENG)

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