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IAmWithName2 Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
present perfect vs simple past : conflicting criteria?
Hi all,
Just when I thought I understood (almost) everything there is to know about the present perfect and the simple past I stumbled over a translation from Dutch I made --the problematic sentence is bold:
----- begin fragment -----
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own in a studio in the provincial town of Angoulême, where she works as a cashier in a hypermarché. She spends her little spare time designing and embroidering clothing.
The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant. Claire works hard and has little contact with her colleagues. Accidentally, she comes into contact with Madame Mélikian, an older woman who has an embroidery studio where she makes dresses for top designers from Paris.
----- end fragment -----
Is the sentence "The flaming ... pregnant" correct? I first wanted to use the simple past for all the verbs, because of the Adverbial Phrase "when she became pregnant". But then I remembered that "always" is a marker for the present perfect. So that's why I have mixed tenses in my main clauses, which seems awkward. Can anyone shed some light on the grammar of this sentence?
Thanks a lot,
JJ S
Just when I thought I understood (almost) everything there is to know about the present perfect and the simple past I stumbled over a translation from Dutch I made --the problematic sentence is bold:
----- begin fragment -----
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own in a studio in the provincial town of Angoulême, where she works as a cashier in a hypermarché. She spends her little spare time designing and embroidering clothing.
The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant. Claire works hard and has little contact with her colleagues. Accidentally, she comes into contact with Madame Mélikian, an older woman who has an embroidery studio where she makes dresses for top designers from Paris.
----- end fragment -----
Is the sentence "The flaming ... pregnant" correct? I first wanted to use the simple past for all the verbs, because of the Adverbial Phrase "when she became pregnant". But then I remembered that "always" is a marker for the present perfect. So that's why I have mixed tenses in my main clauses, which seems awkward. Can anyone shed some light on the grammar of this sentence?
Thanks a lot,
JJ S
Top answer
IAmWithName2 Hi all, Just when I thought I understood (almost) everything there is to know about the present perfect and the simple past I stumbled over a translation from Dutch I made --the problematic sentence is bold: ----- begin fragment ----- Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own in a studio in the provincial town of Angoulême, where she works as a cashier in a hypermarché. She spends her little spare time designing and embroidering clothing. The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.
- IAmWithName2 Hi all, Just when I thought I understood (almost) everything there is to know about the present perfect and the simple past I stumbled over a translation from Dutch I made --the problematic sentence is bold: ----- begin fragment ----- Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own in a studio in the provincial town of Angoulême, where she works as a cashier in a hypermarché.
- She spends her little spare time designing and embroidering clothing.
- The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.
- Claire works hard and has little contact with her colleagues.
- Accidentally, she comes into contact with Madame Mélikian, an older woman who has an embroidery studio where she makes dresses for top designers from Paris.
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6 Answers
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IAmWithName2Hi all,
Just when I thought I understood (almost) everything there is to know about the present perfect and the simple past I stumbled over a translation from Dutch I made --the problematic sentence is bold:
----- begin fragment -----
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own in a studio in the provincial town of Angoulême, where s
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Hi,
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own ....The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.
Is the sentence "The flaming ... pregnant" correct? Yes. It seems fine to me, quite stylish. I first wanted to use the simple past for all t
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own ....The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.
Is the sentence "The flaming ... pregnant" correct? Yes. It seems fine to me, quite stylish. I first wanted to use the simple past for all t
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CliveHi,
Seventeen-year-old Claire lives on her own ....The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.
Is the sentence "The flaming ... pregnant" correct? Yes. It seems fine to me, quite stylish. I first wanted t
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IAmWithName2 But then I remembered that "always" is a marker for the present perfect.
'Always' doesn't have to go with the present perfect.
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Hi all,
Clive and Jussive, thank you!
It is all a lot clearer now.
It seems that my original sentence ("The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.') conveys what I meant it to. I think that the relationship is troublesome up till now, so the present perfect seems to be appr
Clive and Jussive, thank you!
It is all a lot clearer now.
It seems that my original sentence ("The flaming red-haired teenager has always had a troublesome relationship with her parents and ran away from home when she became pregnant.') conveys what I meant it to. I think that the relationship is troublesome up till now, so the present perfect seems to be appr
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I think the trouble here (and it is fairly minor trouble at that) is the conjoining of a general fact with the evidence supporting that fact, and not the relationship of the tenses.
The following sentence shows the same sort of anomaly.
He has always had trouble with stage fright and stuttered through his entire speech last week.
Here, as in your original suspect sen
The following sentence shows the same sort of anomaly.
He has always had trouble with stage fright and stuttered through his entire speech last week.
Here, as in your original suspect sen
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