Present Perfect Simple or Past Simple to give the recent news?

Question

I was taught and also have often read in English grammars that if an action is fresh and influences the present, if it has a visible outcome or consequences now, one should use the Present Perfect Tense in British English.

So I don't understand if someone says ''I did it!" or "I made it" (instead of I've done/made it), esp. if they are just jumping with joy because of the fact. My decision to write here was further accelerated by the recent happening - Brexit.

Some people celebrating in the street carried banners with "WE DID IT". Why not "WE'VE DONE IT", esp. if no concrete date is given and they are happy about the fact now.

The same goes for such sentences as "I DID IT AGAIN". And again I was taught that if an action keeps repeating and there's a possibility it may occur again, use the Present Perfect Tense, e.g I've visited my gran for the second time this year or She's gone down with flu again this month.

Thank you in advance for any sensical expalnation.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Adrian71Some people celebrating in the street carried banners with "WE DID IT". Why not "WE'VE DONE IT", esp. if no concrete date is given and they are happy about the fact now.

When there is no mention of time, the choice of tense depends on the speaker's focus, i.e., what aspect of the situation is more important for the speaker.

If you focus on the current results of an action, you are more likely to choose the present perfect. It's a matter of connecting the past with the present. In a way, this is looking back at and taking into consideration all the steps that led to the present moment. The present perfect keeps past time "open to the present".

<- - - - - - We've done it.

It should be said as well that the present perfect can put more stress on the status of the subject of the sentence than on the action taken.

If you focus on a break in time, i.e., a break in conditions or circumstances, you are more likely to choose the simple past. It's a matter of disconnecting the past from the present. In a way, this is cutting off all the steps that led to the present moment and "packaging" the whole process into a single event. The simple past makes past time "closed to the present".

- - - ||< ..... We did it.

It should also be noted that the simple past can put more stress on the fact that the action was taken than on the subject of the sentence, i.e., who did it.

We did it! in your Brexit scenario stresses the completion of an achievement, forming "a break in time". There is no focus on present conditions or circumstances. The doing of it is more important than who did it.

Another example:

During a baseball game, a dog gets loose and runs across the field. You turn to the person next to you and ask Did you see that?— not Have you seen that? It's not so much a question of whether the other person experienced the event, as if he has added yet one more accomplishment to his name, but that the strange event itself occurred.

In general, surprising or momentous events are expressed with the simple past.

CJ

Present Perfect Simple or Past Simple to give the recent news?

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