The weather was/has been good today

Question

Hi folks,It's six o'clock in the evening and a student says to me"The weather has been good today"I then reply to him"The weather was good today"The student can't understand why I have used the simple past.Can anyone help me explain this?Thanks,DaveSpain

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

It's six o'clock in the evening and a student says to me

"The weather has been good today"
This is fine. It suggest that the weather is still good, or that the student still feels happy about the weather.

I then reply to him

"The weather was good today" This is also fine. it just makes a simple statement about the past.

The student can't understand why I have used the simple past.
Perhaps the student thinks that all of today is 'the present'. You might need to explain that 'earlier today' is the past.

Can anyone help me explain this?

Clive

MichalS · Answer

Hi Dave,

Tell him that at 6 p.m. some people call it a day and go home so the weather isn't so important any more. That's why you are justified in making overall statements like that.

Clive"The weather was good today"

= The day has come or is coming to an end.

The best context for this sentence (that I can think of) would be this: You went on a short trip outside the city to admire the beauty of the countryside and you came back at 6 p.m. Then you make a statement about the weather that you had during the trip: The weather was good today.

You used Past Simple because you meant the weather that was during the trip. You're not speaking about the weather on that day in general as it isn't important any longer (the trip is over, you can go home and not worry about the weather).

That's the way I see it.

However, I think I can see why the kid advocated the use of Present Perfect here. He's probably a young soul, for whom 6 p.m. is merely midday and he still has many plans for the rest of the day. Plans which may need good weather to be achieved, as he may want to watch meteors all night or go from bar to bar.

The weather has been good today (so far). Let's see what about the rest of the day.

By the way, I've always thought that the 'day' begins at dusk in Spain, especially in the south.

Michal

Pendeen560 · Answer

MichalSTell him that at 6 p.m. some people call it a day and go home so the weather isn't so important any more. That's why you are justified in making overall statements like that.
Clive"The weather was good today"
= The day has come or is coming to an end.
The best context for this sentence (that I can think of) would be this: You went on a short trip outside the city to admire the beauty of the countryside and you came back at 6 p.m. Then you make a statement about the weather that you had during the trip: The weather was good today.

That's how I see it.

The day was over in effect and my student had enjoyed good weather in the Austrian Alps. He's on a skiing holiday at the moment so the weather is important during the day (daylight hours).

Thanks for the replies

Dave
Extremadura, Spain

The weather was/has been good today

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