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Anonymous Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Present Perfect VS Past Simple
Hello everybody,
I have been struggling with the following three sentences for a couple of days. I am not sure what tense I shall use. Can you help me, please?
No 1: *Nothing is ready. He did not do/has not done anything, as usual.
No 2: *Everything is ready. He did/has done everything, as usual.
No 3: *Why are you on the floor? Have you fallen/did you fall?
I guess there is a distinction between American English and British English, and American English speakers would use Past Simple Tense in all three sentences above. However, I wonder what tense I am to use accorging to the proper grammar.
As for No1 and No2:
I am of the opinion that these sentences are syntactically equal to each other; and one is possitive and the other is negative, though. Thus, I hold the view that both Present Perfect and Past Simple work here, and the distinction here is as follows:
> Past Simple: emphasises "habitual" action - he never does anything and now he did not do what I wanted // he always does everything and now he did everything I wanted
> Present Perfect: emphasises the "current" state - he never does anything and I came home and saw that the things have not changed [maybe this is absolutely wrong, personally I would prefer Past Simple]
As for No 3:
I would say that both tenses work here, too.
> Past Simple: emphasises "completed" action of falling down
> Present Perfect: emphasises that something has changed. i.e. usually, you are standing and now I can see that you are on the floor (an analoguous case is "I am looking for my keys. I have lost them." - i.e. something has changed - usually, I have my keys and now I do not have them
Can anybody confirm or disprove my hypothesis, please? I would be so grateful because I care about grammar a lot, for I am not a native speaker.
Thank you very much.
I wish you all a wonderfull and productive week - all the best,
- Daniel
I have been struggling with the following three sentences for a couple of days. I am not sure what tense I shall use. Can you help me, please?
No 1: *Nothing is ready. He did not do/has not done anything, as usual.
No 2: *Everything is ready. He did/has done everything, as usual.
No 3: *Why are you on the floor? Have you fallen/did you fall?
I guess there is a distinction between American English and British English, and American English speakers would use Past Simple Tense in all three sentences above. However, I wonder what tense I am to use accorging to the proper grammar.
As for No1 and No2:
I am of the opinion that these sentences are syntactically equal to each other; and one is possitive and the other is negative, though. Thus, I hold the view that both Present Perfect and Past Simple work here, and the distinction here is as follows:
> Past Simple: emphasises "habitual" action - he never does anything and now he did not do what I wanted // he always does everything and now he did everything I wanted
> Present Perfect: emphasises the "current" state - he never does anything and I came home and saw that the things have not changed [maybe this is absolutely wrong, personally I would prefer Past Simple]
As for No 3:
I would say that both tenses work here, too.
> Past Simple: emphasises "completed" action of falling down
> Present Perfect: emphasises that something has changed. i.e. usually, you are standing and now I can see that you are on the floor (an analoguous case is "I am looking for my keys. I have lost them." - i.e. something has changed - usually, I have my keys and now I do not have them
Can anybody confirm or disprove my hypothesis, please? I would be so grateful because I care about grammar a lot, for I am not a native speaker.
Thank you very much.
I wish you all a wonderfull and productive week - all the best,
- Daniel
Top answer
"He has not done anything" implies that the effects of his inaction are visible now, so it would be the usual choice with "Nothing is ready". "He did not do anything" refers to inaction on any past occasion, however long ago. It does not in itself refer to habitual inaction (though obviously the phrase "as usual" adds that sense).
- "He has not done anything" implies that the effects of his inaction are visible now, so it would be the usual choice with "Nothing is ready".
- "He did not do anything" refers to inaction on any past occasion, however long ago.
- It does not in itself refer to habitual inaction (though obviously the phrase "as usual" adds that sense).
- The second sentence is similar.
- The third sentence is also similar in terms of the meanings of the tenses, but it is not so obvious that the present perfect is preferable over the simple past.
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4 Answers
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"He has not done anything" implies that the effects of his inaction are visible now, so it would be the usual choice with "Nothing is ready". "He did not do anything" refers to inaction on any past occasion, however long ago. It does not in itself refer to habitual inaction (though obviously the phrase "as usual" adds that sense). The second sentence is similar.
The third sentence is als
The third sentence is als
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Thank you very much!
Well, to sum it up:
1 & 2: Present Perfect fits here more than Past Simple, however, both can be used
3: Past Simple (actually, I do not understand why PP cannot be used here)
Right?
Well, to sum it up:
1 & 2: Present Perfect fits here more than Past Simple, however, both can be used
3: Past Simple (actually, I do not understand why PP cannot be used here)
Right?
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Anonymous3: Past Simple (actually, I do not understand why PP cannot be used here)It can. I did not mean to imply that it can't, only to say that it is not so much preferable over the simple past. Both tenses work OK in (3).
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