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Terisa111 Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Present perfect or Past Simple

While I was working on a grammar exercise, this question came up. We were supposed to choose the best tense to use:
How long is it since you last/you have last bought a DVD??
The correct answer is: How long is it since you last bought a DVD?

My question is this: Why is it the past simple used eventhough the word ¨since¨ is in the question?

Thanks for your help!
  

Top answer

The word "last" designates an individual completed past action; this calls for the simple past.

— Mr Wordy

  • The word "last" designates an individual completed past action; this calls for the simple past.
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8 Answers
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The word "last" designates an individual completed past action; this calls for the simple past.
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Terisa111The correct answer is: How long is it since you last bought a DVD?

This is my opinion.

I think you need to examine the excercise book. I doubted seriously this is the correct answer. The "how long" + "since" c
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Hello,

Shouldn't the sentence be written, "How long has it been since you last bought a DVD?" ?

Thanks,
VUSHCM
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vushcmShouldn't the sentence be written, "How long has it been since you last bought a DVD?" ?
For me, these are both OK:

"How long is it since you last bought a DVD?"

"How long has it been since you last bought a DVD?"
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What confused you was the ambiguity of the application of the preposition "since". It's indeed an attribute of Perfect Progressive tenses, but ONLY if it refers to a durative action, a resultless process (an Imperfect Aspect in world's linguistics). While in your case the verb "bought" means a completed action with the result (Perfect Aspect). "Since" can be used with either of aspects. The vague
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rinoceronte"Since" can be used with either of aspects.
Interesting. Can you give examples where since is used with the imperfect aspect? (Because I can't think of any.) Thanks.

CJ
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Terisa111Why is it the past simple used even though the word ¨since¨ is in the question?
When you are told to use the perfect tenses with "since", the reference is to the clause which the since clause accompanies (the main clause) -- not the contents of the since clause itself. Moreover, the rule itself is not a very strict one. As you can see,
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CalifJim
rinoceronte"Since" can be used with either of aspects.
Interesting. Can you give examples where since is used with the imperfect aspect? (Because I can't think of any.) Thanks.CJ
"He has been looking for a job since January".
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