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SuperESL Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

Present Perfect

Hello,

The grammar book I am reading says one should use the present perfect when commenting on the present results of something in the past. It gives the following examples:
"He sounds as if he has run all the way here."
"It seems they've already decided without consulting us."

I was wondering whether it's really 'wrong' to say:
"He sounds as if he ran all the way here."
"It seems they decided without consulting us." ?

Is there a British / American difference here (it seems that Americans are more open to using the simple past in many cases)?

Thank you.
  

Top answer

There's nothing wrong with using the simple past. If you're going for precision in writing, use the perfect tense, but most of us don't worry about it in spoken English. Perfect tense is pretty ingrained in AmE, Using contractions makes it second-nature in spoken English.

— Vorpar

  • There's nothing wrong with using the simple past.
  • If you're going for precision in writing, use the perfect tense, but most of us don't worry about it in spoken English.
  • Perfect tense is pretty ingrained in AmE, Using contractions makes it second-nature in spoken English.
  • " are commonly used here.
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2 Answers
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There's nothing wrong with using the simple past. If you're going for precision in writing, use the perfect tense, but most of us don't worry about it in spoken English.

Perfect tense is pretty ingrained in AmE, Using contractions makes it second-nature in spoken English.
"He's/I've/They've/etc." are commonly used here.
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