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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Present Participle & Past Tense

0Could someone tell me which of the following is correct?02br
02br
02br
01font01i001. For your information, I 01b00spoke02b00 to the Manpower Officer yesterday. I would be liaising with him regarding the court dates.02i02font02br
02br
01font02font02br
02br
02br
01font01i002. For your information, I 01b00have spoken02b00 to the Manpower Officer yesterday. I would be liaising with him regarding the court dates.02i02font02br
02br
01font02font02br
02br
02br
00"spoke" seems to be correct considering the fact that the incident took place in the past. But "have spoken" sounds to me more natural although I cannot explain why. 01i00(Or should it be "had spoken"?)02i02br
02br
02br
00Could someone help me? 0-
  

Top answer

0 Things are clear cut at the BBC: 01font 00spoke ... yesterday02font 00. uk for "have spoken * yesterday"02br 00 and all of them are past modals such as "could have spoken" 02br 02br 00 * is a wildcart for whatever you want.

— Marius Hancu

  • 0 Things are clear cut at the BBC: 01font 00spoke ...
  • yesterday02font 00.
  • uk for "have spoken * yesterday"02br 00 and all of them are past modals such as "could have spoken" 02br 02br 00 * is a wildcart for whatever you want.
  • 0-
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3 Answers
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0 Things are clear cut at the BBC: 01font00spoke ... yesterday02font00. 02br
02br
00 Google hits:02br
02br
00 165 from bbc.co.uk for "spoke * yesterday"02br
02br
00 9 from bbc.co.uk for "have spoken * yesterday"02br
00 and all of them are past modals such as "could have sp
0
0
1font00Hi,02font02br
02br
00Could someone tell me which of the following is correct?02br
02br
02br
01font01i001. For your information, I 01b00spoke02b00 to the Manpower Officer yesterday. I would be liaising with him regarding the court dates.02i0
0
0
0 You can't mix a 01u00present02u00 perfect tense (01i00have spoken02i00) with an adverb or similar expression indicating the 01u00past02u00 (01i00yesterday02i00), so only the first of your two sentences is correct.02br
02br
00 CJ0-
0

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