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Anonymous Posted 18 years ago
Grammar

Use of "have"

I'm telling someone about something I did in the past. Is there any grammatical difference between saying "I read the book" and "I have read the book"? If not, which is preferable and why?

Thanks,

Washington
  

Top answer

Hi, I'm telling someone about something I did in the past. Is there any grammatical difference between saying "I read the book" and "I have read the book"? With simple past tense, you are simply stating an event in the past.

— Clive

  • Hi, I'm telling someone about something I did in the past.
  • Is there any grammatical difference between saying "I read the book" and "I have read the book"?
  • With simple past tense, you are simply stating an event in the past.
  • With the present perfect, you are talking about a past fact in a way that shows it has importance in the present.
  • eg I have read a book , and now I am ready to read another one.
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2 Answers
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Hi,

I'm telling someone about something I did in the past. Is there any grammatical difference between saying "I read the book" and "I have read the book"?

With simple past tense, you are simply stating an event in the past.

With the present perfect, you are talking about a past fact in a way that shows it has importance in the pre
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I'm telling someone about something I did in the past.
Then tell them you read the book. If you're telling someone about something you have done in the past, then tell them you have read the book.

See .
See .
See .
See .

CJ

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