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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Please, help me with this question

0 Hi!02br
02br
00 An explanation, please. 01font01b01u00Present Perfect tense means past time related to present time02u02b02font00 and one of its uses is: 01b00an action that happened at an 01u00indefinite time02u00 in the past02b00, e.g.: 01b00I have travelled to Athens02b00. But in the sentence:01b00 01font01u00I have read a magazine00 * today02u02font02b00 ,how to explain that we don't use the Simple Past, but the Present Perfect tense here? Because the action of reading a magazine happened 01u01b00today02b02u00, time is definite!02br
02br
00 2) So what's the difference between:02br
02br
00- I 01b00read02b00 a magazine 01b00today02b00. (simple past tense)02br
02br
00 and02br
02br
00- I 01b00have read02b00 a magazine 01b00today.02b00 (present perfect tense)02br
02br
00Thanks a lot!!!0-
  

Top answer

1font 01b 00Hi,02b 02font 02br 02br 00An explanation, please. : 01b 00I have travelled to Athens02b 00. But in the sentence:01b 00 01font 01u 00I have read a magazine00 * today02u 02font 02b 00 ,how to explain that we don't use the Simple Past, but the Present Perfect tense here?

— Clive

  • 1font 01b 00Hi,02b 02font 02br 02br 00An explanation, please.
  • : 01b 00I have travelled to Athens02b 00.
  • But in the sentence:01b 00 01font 01u 00I have read a magazine00 * today02u 02font 02b 00 ,how to explain that we don't use the Simple Past, but the Present Perfect tense here?
  • 02br 02br 01b 01font 00In this sentence, the speaker is thinking of 'today' as an 01u 01i 00indefinite02i 02u 00 period.
  • eg If he is speaking at 9pm, we dom't know at what definite time he read the magazine.
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9 Answers
0
1font01b00Hi,02b02font02br
02br
00An explanation, please. 01font01b01u00Present Perfect tense means past time related to present time02u02b02font00 and one of its uses is: 01b00an action that happened at an 01u00indefinite time0
0
0
0Hi Clive,02br
02br
00 Thanks for helping me. I understood your explanation. But, how to explain the difference between these two senteces without any context:02br
02br
00I 01b00read02b00 the magazine 01b00today02b00 .(simple past)02br
02br
00 and02br
02br
00
0
0
0Hi,02br
02br
00The present perfect suggests this fact has some importance to the time of speaking.02br
02br
00The context is necessary to explain why this tense was chosen by the speaker.02br
02br
00Clive0-
0
0
0Hi Anon,02br
02br
00Aside from Clive's explanation, may I offer you this scenario.02br
00Picture this:02br
02br
00It’s Saturday. You00 00got up 00at 00 this morning (completed simple past act)and it’s now 00. You 00have been up 00for 2 hours studying for a test on Monday. (this condition still holds true at this tim
0
0
0Ok,Clive. Thank you very much.02br
02br
00Best wishes,02br
02br
00Anon 0-
0
0
0Hello, Goodman!02br
02br
00Thanks for your help.02br
02br
00Best wishes 0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10 ... 11b10 11font11u10I have read a magazine10 * today12u12font12b10 ,how to explain that we don't use the Simple Past, but the Present Perfect tense here? Because the action of reading a magazine happened 11u11b10
0
0
0Hi02br
02br
00Is the following sentence right? 'I have finished my work today.' How is it different from 'I finished my work today'?02br
02br
00Can we say that when we use today with the present perfect, we must refer to things that were started and finished today?02br
02br
00Thanks02br
02br
00Asher0-
0
0
0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10'I have finished my work today.' How is it different from 'I finished my work today'?12blockquote
10 Both are correct.02br
01i00I have finished my work today.02i00 --- The state of having finished my work exists now.02br
02br
01i00I f
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