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Insano Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

The Present Perfect usage (have missed)

Hello

I have a question if the Present Perfect usage is correct in the following situation:

I left my room and when I came back and I spotted "2 missed calls" on my phone's display.
Can I say "Ohh, I've missed 2 calls!" ? (because these calls happened in some time period continued to the present)

Is the Past Simple incorrect here?

Regards,
insano
  

Top answer

Hello Insano! You're right, you can say: I've missed 2 calls; or I missed 2 calls. Your options include you think the "missed" is important for me the listener, so use present perfect you think the "missed" is very recent, not PAST but BEFORE NOW, so use the present perfect you think the "missed" is not so important for the listener, maybe for you, but not the listener.

— AFE

  • Hello Insano!
  • You're right, you can say: I've missed 2 calls; or I missed 2 calls.
  • Your options include you think the "missed" is important for me the listener, so use present perfect you think the "missed" is very recent, not PAST but BEFORE NOW, so use the present perfect you think the "missed" is not so important for the listener, maybe for you, but not the listener.
  • It's just something that happened.
  • So use the past simple you think the "missed" is a long time ago (maybe for you 5 minutes is a long time), so use the past simple you are North American, so use past simple :-)))) (that is debatable, but often the case) It all depends on YOUR point of view.
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2 Answers
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Hello Insano!

You're right, you can say:

I've missed 2 calls; or

I missed 2 calls.

Your options include

  • you think the "missed" is important for me the listener, so use present perfect

  • you think the "missed" is very recent, not PAST but BEFORE NOW, so use the present perfect

  • you think the "mi
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insanoIs the Past Simple incorrect here?
No. Both are possible.

Are you talking in terms of "how things stand now"? Use I've missed.
Are you talking in terms of "what happened"? Use I missed.

CJ
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