Present perfect and a past time reference

Question

Is it correct to use the present perfect with a time reference that anchors an event at a specific point in the past like in the example below? Thanks for your help.

Adults who have faced self-esteem problems in their youth usually feel insecure and have problems crossing their comfort zones.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

The sentence is grammatically correct.

CalifJim · Answer

anonymousIs it correct to use the present perfect with a time reference that anchors an event at a specific point in the past like in the example below?

Your question presumes that "in their youth" is a specific point in the past.

It is not. It's a period of time.

Note the use of time periods in the past together with the present perfect in the following sentences found online. All are in relative clauses, as in your original example.

There are swimmers from the WSC who have done some really incredible things in college.
Congratulations must go to the hundreds of students who have received university offers this past month.
The proof is really the number and quality of the students who have come to the university in the past 12 years.

The first example can even be interpreted as in your original sentence, that is, with the time period finished before the statement is made.

CJ

Present perfect and a past time reference

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