went vs have gone

Question

Hi there Gurus, can you kindly explain why I went to high school here, and now I am a full time teacher. is correct but have gone wouldn't work?TIA!

Yoong Liat · Accepted Answer

AnonymousHi there Gurus, can you kindly explain why I went to high school here, and now I am a full time teacher. is correct but
have gone wouldn't work?

TIA!

'went' (simple past) is correct because you completed high school and you are now a teacher.

Clive · Answer

Hi,
can you kindly explain why I went to high school here, and now I am a full time teacher. is correct but
have gone wouldn't work?

I wouldn't say that Present Perfect is wrong. I'd say it is unnecessary.
With Present Perfect, you are saying that the fact is important to the present situation, ie the fact that you went to high school here is important to the fact that you are a full-time teacher. It's obvious that going to High School is important if you want to be a teacher. It's so obvious that it's not worth saying. In other words, it's not worth using the Present Perfect.

Best wishes, Clive

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousexplain why I went to high school here, and now I am a full time teacher. is correct but
have gone wouldn't work?

This is a curious one. To my ear, the two mean completely different things.
To me, the words "went to high school here" mean "completed my high school education here", possibly even "graduated from this high school". To my ear, "went to high school", when it means "graduated from high school", is more like an idiom.
To me, the words "have gone to high school here" mean "have attended some classes at this high school from time to time (at least once)". This form does not suggest to me that I completed my high school education at this high school.
The question forms make the same distinction. When I want to know where someone graduated from high school, I often ask, "Where did you go to high school?" -- the idiom.
I can't imagine asking "Where have you gone to high school?" if I want that sort of information. It doesn't have the same 'feel' as the idiom. In fact, it can even take on the sense of "Name several high schools that you have attended".
____

Come to think of it, the same logic is seen whenever an event is typically thought of as taking place only once in a person's life.
I was married in California, and now I live in New Jersey.
But not:
*I have been married in California, and now I live in New Jersey.
And:
My parents named me James, but everybody calls me Jim.
But not:
*My parents have named me James, but everybody calls me Jim.

The contrast with the present also seems to factor into the grammaticality:
I started this project with enthusiam, but now I'm completely uninterested in it.
Not:
*I have started this project with enthusiam, but now I'm completely uninterested in it.

Perhaps that's because the present perfect seems to fill all time up to the moment of speaking, so that no more activities or events can any longer fit into the same time period!!!

CJ

went vs have gone

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