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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Present perfect tense connection with present
If we're talking about one event which happened in the past and no specific time was mentioned at the beginning, but later we say when it happened, should we still use present perfect tense until we mention when it happened?
Also, as I understand, present perfect tense can be used if something what happened in the past has some connection with the present. So if we have a sentence like this, "I know a guy who has crashed his boat into a tree". I'm not saying when he did it, and the time is actually not important. Isn't it suggests a listener that the boat is still wrecked? If so, so it means that I should just say, "I know a guy who crashed his boat into a tree".?
It doesn't matter if the boat is fixed or not, but I want to understand how it sounds to a listener. I think I understand present perfect tense correctly (almost), but still not sure about things like I mentioned above. If something was/has been crashed/wrecked in the past and if I'm speaking about it after a long time, isn't using present perfect tense suggests that those things are still wrecked?
Also, as I understand, present perfect tense can be used if something what happened in the past has some connection with the present. So if we have a sentence like this, "I know a guy who has crashed his boat into a tree". I'm not saying when he did it, and the time is actually not important. Isn't it suggests a listener that the boat is still wrecked? If so, so it means that I should just say, "I know a guy who crashed his boat into a tree".?
It doesn't matter if the boat is fixed or not, but I want to understand how it sounds to a listener. I think I understand present perfect tense correctly (almost), but still not sure about things like I mentioned above. If something was/has been crashed/wrecked in the past and if I'm speaking about it after a long time, isn't using present perfect tense suggests that those things are still wrecked?
Top answer
Anonymous I want to understand how it sounds to a listener. He has crashed his boat into a tree sounds like a recent event, so I would assume the boat is still in a damaged condition. He crashed his boat into a tree sounds like an event in a story you're telling.
- Anonymous I want to understand how it sounds to a listener.
- He has crashed his boat into a tree sounds like a recent event, so I would assume the boat is still in a damaged condition.
- He crashed his boat into a tree sounds like an event in a story you're telling.
- The next part of the story may say that he had his boat repaired, or it may say that he never had it repaired, so we don't know if the boat is still damaged until someone continues the story.
- And even then, if the story does not contain that information, then we'll never know.
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1 Answers
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AnonymousI want to understand how it sounds to a listener.He has crashed his boat into a tree sounds like a recent event, so I would assume the boat is still in a damaged condition.
He crashed his boat into a tree sounds like an event in a story you're telling. The next part of the story may say that he had his boat repaired, or it may
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