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Mabad Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

please answer

At work I told this to a colleague...

When I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache.

(I still have a headache)

Or should I say...
When I woke up this morning, I had a terrible headache.
I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.

Thank you.
  

Top answer

mabad When I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache. Oh my goodness! No.

  • mabad When I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache.
  • Oh my goodness!
  • No.
  • You can't have a when -clause (or anything else that indicates a specific time) together with a present perfect tense.
  • You want "since", not "when".
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3 Answers
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mabadWhen I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache.
Oh my goodness! No.

You can't have a when-clause (or anything else that indicates a specific time) together with a present perfect tense. You want "since", not "when".

Since I woke up this morning I have had a terrible headache.
mabad
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Thank you so much, CJ! After I said that, I knew it sounded wrong and there must have been something wrong with my sentence. The thing is after I say something, I always think of my grammar e.g. If I made mistakes or what.
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Since I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache. Sounds like you still have it.

These two sentences do not tell us that you still have it.
When I woke up this morning, I had a terrible headache.
I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.

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