Present perfect & Past simpe

Question

Hi everybody!What are main differences among those tenses? 1. I have painted my room.  *In the past I have painted my room and I am currently done with painting.2. I have been painting my room. *In the past I started with painting and I am now (or recently)done with painting.3. I painted my room. *I have painted my room. If the above mentioned explanations are correct, then, are present perfect and simple past interchangeable?My book says that if you want to tell how long you did something you must use simple past instead of present perfect.This is wrong:1.  I have painted my room for 2 hours. It should be:2. I painted my room for 2 hours.And if you wanted to say you have painted your room in the last 2 hours:3. I have been painting my room for 2 hours.Which doesn’t make any sense because I have read somewhere that ‘we have played soccer 2 times a week’ is correct usage of the present perfect simple. Can someone elaborate on this?

GPY · Accepted Answer

"I painted my room" simply describes something that you did in the past (either recent or distant past). "I have painted my room" implies that you did it recently and the results are still novel or relevant to the present situation. "I have been painting my room" describes recent activity or activity in progress that may or may not be complete.

"I have painted my room for two hours" and "We have played soccer two times a week" are not usually very good sentences. To describe activity that continues up until the present, use "have been painting" or "have been playing". To describe other past activity use simple past. (However, rather than "I painted my room for two hours" it may be better to say it another way, such as "I spent two hours painting my room". This is quite a subtle point related the type of activity described.)

CalifJim · Answer

mekkalompWhat are main differences among those tenses? 1. I have painted my room. *In the past I have painted my room and I am currently done with painting.2. I have been painting my room. *In the past I started with painting and I am now (or recently)done with painting.3. I painted my room. *I have painted my room.

1. I have painted my room. Remember how I've been talking about it all month? Well, the job is finished. You should come and see it some time. (Status update.)
2. I have been painting my room. It's much more work than I expected. Maybe I'll finish one of these days, but I still have one more wall and the ceiling to do. (Activity update.)
3. Years ago, when I lived in Chicago, I rented a room. It was really dreary looking, especially in the winter, so I painted it to brighten things up. (Event in a narrative.)

mekkalompare present perfect and simple past interchangeable?

No. They have different functions as illustrated above.

mekkalompMy book says that if you want to tell how long you did something you must use simple past instead of present perfect.This is wrong:1. I have painted my room for 2 hours. It should be:2. I painted my room for 2 hours.And if you wanted to say you have painted your room in the last 2 hours:3. I have been painting my room for 2 hours.

All of this is quite reasonable. A for-phrase of time indicates activity during some period of time. "I have painted my room" is a claim that a job is complete, which only happens at a point in time. You can't continue to complete something again and again. Once it is complete, it is complete. There is no activity implied.

mekkalompI have read somewhere that ‘we have played soccer 2 times a week’ is correct

two times a week isn't a for-phrase, so the same logic about continuous activity doesn't apply in this sentence.

The true analog to the 'painting' example is:

We have been playing soccer for three hours.

This kind of sentence implies that the activity continued up to (or almost up to) the time you tell someone about it.
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CJ

Mekkalomp · Answer

Thanks guys.

@CJ
I have read some links you have provided.

In one post I saw this

1. I have done this job for twenty years = The speaker probably still does the job now.
2. I did this job for 20 years = The speaker no longer does the job.

CalifJim · Answer

mekkalompIn one post I saw

I don't know which post you saw this in, or what its purpose might have been. But in any case, what exactly is your question about these sentences?

CJ

Mekkalomp · Answer

CalifJimI don't know which post you saw this in, or what its purpose might have been. But in any case, what exactly is your question about these sentences?CJ

Oops, something went wrong. Anyway, the two senctences come from the second link that you have provided.

[q] 1. I have done this job for twenty years = The speaker probably still does the job now. [/q]
Isn't this senctence wrong?
Shouldn't it be: 'I have been doing this job for twenty years'?

CalifJim · Answer

mekkalompShouldn't it be: 'I have been doing this job for twenty years'?

That may be a little better, yes, but the original is also OK. In this case, the nature of the action makes a difference. "paint my house" is a well defined task that takes a finite amount of time and accomplishes a goal at the end of that time. In contrast, "doing this job" (as at a company) takes place in an indefinite amount of time, continuously, and has no goal. That is, there is no defined accomplishment for "doing a job" for many years. (It's not the same as "finishing a job".) Both the non-continuous and the continuous form of the verb are acceptable in the case where no goal is involved.

The authors of your textbook chose an example where the action described had a goal that could be completed, so you may have drawn the conclusion that what they said there applies to all situations. But it doesn't.

These matters are almost always more complicated than we think they are at first.

CJ

Mekkalomp · Answer

CalifJimThese matters are almost always more complicated than we think they are at first

It is mind boggeling. The more I read about grammar rules the less I understand.

I think I get it now, at least, I hope so. Could you check one more made up example?

They have managed to stay alive.

CalifJim · Answer

mekkalompThey have managed to stay alive.

Correct.

mekkalompThe more I read about grammar rules the less I understand.

Sometimes I feel that way, too.

The problem is that the textbooks only give a few typical examples, and when you start to get more experience reading things and hearing things, you find out that the textbook examples aren't enough to explain everything, and that sometimes there are even exceptions to the exceptions.

Hang in there.

CJ

Mekkalomp · Answer

CalifJimCorrect.

I am sorry but my post again didn't get through entirely.
What I was asking about: is the action of the sentence managing and the result/goal of the sentence is to stay alive?
They managed to stay alive until now. But they are alive at this very moment.

CalifJim · Answer

mekkalompThey managed to stay alive until now.

"to manage to (do something)" is to accomplish a goal. Yes. The action is 'managing' and the goal is 'to stay alive'.

They have managed to stay alive until now is correct.
They managed to stay alive until now is also correct, though "until now" suggests that there is no time gap between the time of the action and the time this sentence is said, so the previous sentence (with have managed) is perhaps a little more accurate. In fact, if you say They have managed to say alive, you don't have to say until now, because the present perfect tense already implies until now.

In some of your previous questions you were more concerned with the difference between the past perfect and the past perfect continuous, but in this question it's a matter of the difference between the past and the present perfect. The basic difference is that, in most cases, if there is no time gap between the time of the action and the time that you report it, the present perfect can be used. If there is a time gap, you normally use the past.

..........[ action ] ...| time gap |..[ report of action ] .... (past)
..............[ - - - - - action - - - - ][ report of action ] .... (present perfect)

Typical example:
Larry worked at IBM in 1995. (There is a time gap between 1995 and 2013. Larry doesn't work at IBM now.)
Larry has worked at IBM since 1995. (No time gap. Larry still works at IBM, though he started in 1995.)

CJ

Present perfect & Past simpe

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