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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Past x Present Perfect

Hello. I have a question. Which tense should be used to talk about a set of previous investigations?

Example:

a) Past
Emphasis in earlier studies (Takeda, 1999; Yamada, 2002; Tanaka, 2006) was placed on X.

b) Present Perfect
Emphasis in earlier studies (Takeda, 1999; Yamada, 2002; Tanaka, 2006) has been placed on X.

Some books say that the preferable tense is present perfect. But some people seem to use past too. Is there a correct choice or is just a matter of style?

Thank you!!!
  

Top answer

Anonymous Is there a correct choice Here, yes: specific past dates have been mentioned, so use simple past.

— Mister Micawber

  • Anonymous Is there a correct choice Here, yes: specific past dates have been mentioned, so use simple past.
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3 Answers
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Anonymous Is there a correct choice
Here, yes: specific past dates have been mentioned, so use simple past.
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Thank you for the reply.

But I have found the following examples using the present perfect, which do show specific dates enclosed in parentheses:

"Some studies have shown that girls have significantly higher fears than boys after trauma (Pfefferbaum et al., 1999; Pine &; Cohen, 2002; Shaw, 2003).Other studies have found no gender differences (Rahav &; Ronen, 1994). (Psychology)"
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If you use the past tense when specific past dates are mentioned, you will always be correct.
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