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Jesusengland Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

That was John.He has said / Laura has said

Hello.
You've invited someone for dinner at your house, and the phone rings. It's them! They say:
I'm sorry, but I think I'm going to be a bit late. There's a lot of traffic.
After you finish speaking on the phone, you say to someone else:
A)That was Juan. He said he thinks he's going to be late because there's a lot of traffic.
Another example:
A friend says to you:
María's ill. She's got chickenpox!
You say to someone else:
B)Laura said that María's ill. She's got chickenpox.
However, the following day you see María at the beach. You're surprised and say to her:
C)Laura said that you were ill. She said you had chickenpox.

I can't understand why A) Is in past simple and no in present perfect (it is a recent event in the same day: That was John.He has said...)

I can't understand why B) is in past simple and not in present perfect (it is a recent event in the same day: Laura has said that...)

I would be grateful for your help.
  

Top answer

Hi, the problem here is the difference between simple past and present perfect. There are a lot of thread about that in this forum, if take a look around with the search function. Generally speaking, if you want to mention something that happened in the past, and you have a fixed point in time in the past in mind, and its duration is limited in time...

— Kooyeen

  • Hi, the problem here is the difference between simple past and present perfect.
  • There are a lot of thread about that in this forum, if take a look around with the search function.
  • Generally speaking, if you want to mention something that happened in the past, and you have a fixed point in time in the past in mind, and its duration is limited in time...
  • you use the simple past.
  • That was Juan (on the phone).
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1 Answers
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Hi,
the problem here is the difference between simple past and present perfect. There are a lot of thread about that in this forum, if take a look around with the search function.

Generally speaking, if you want to mention something that happened in the past, and you have a fixed point in time in the past in mind, and its duration is limited in time... you use the simple past.
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