{"id":74375,"date":"2020-04-29T09:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T09:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=74375"},"modified":"2024-08-28T17:19:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T17:19:22","slug":"simple-past-vs-present-perfect-tense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/simple-past-vs-present-perfect-tense\/","title":{"rendered":"Simple Past vs. Present Perfect Tense"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Watch this <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Q0-w6Et8_is\">Youtube video<\/a> to learn the difference between simple past and present perfect. You can also find a <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/mEx31T2wKvM\">Malayalam version of the same video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We use the present perfect tense to give news of recent events. The simple past is used when we say when something happened. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We cannot use the present perfect tense with adverbs referring to a definite point of time in the past. For example, we cannot use the present perfect tense with adverbs like yesterday, last week, in 2001 or two years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fill in the blanks with the past simple or present perfect tense form of the verb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I can&#8217;t find my phone. I &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; it. (lose)<\/li><li>I &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; from the tree while attempting to climb it. (fall)<\/li><li>They &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. (announce) the results.<\/li><li>What &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; to them. (happen)<\/li><li>She &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; in a  hurry. (leave)<\/li><li>Who &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. (invent) the telescope?<\/li><li>&#8216;Why are you crying?&#8217; &#8216;Mummy &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. me.&#8217; (scold)<\/li><li>When I was younger, I frequently &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; the beach. (go)<\/li><li>The exam was more difficult than I &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. (think)<\/li><li>Who &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230; (discover) the sea route to India? <\/li><li>But you &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. to stop smoking. (promise)<\/li><li>Thieves &#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.. into his house when he was away.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>James can\u2019t walk because he&nbsp;<b>has broken<\/b>&nbsp;his leg.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>James broke his leg sometime in the past, but its effect is still present \u2013 he still can\u2019t walk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Somebody<b>&nbsp;has let&nbsp;<\/b>the cat in. (= The cat is still in.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<b><a href=\"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/simple-past-tense-overview\/\">simple past tense<\/a>&nbsp;<\/b>is preferred when we identify the person or thing responsible for a present situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Compare:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>John&nbsp;<b>has broken<\/b>&nbsp;another window.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the process of breaking the window took place in the past, its effect is still present \u2013 the window is still broken. That is why we use a present perfect tense in this sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Who<b>&nbsp;broke<\/b>&nbsp;the window? (NOT Who has broken the window?)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Here the focus is on the person who performed the action. Therefore we use a simple past tense in this sentence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More examples are given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Who&nbsp;<b>killed<\/b>&nbsp;that spider? (NOT Who has killed that spider?)<\/li><li>\u2018Why are you crying?\u2019 \u2018Dad<b>&nbsp;hit&nbsp;<\/b>me.\u2019 (NOT Dad has hit me.)<\/li><li>Columbus&nbsp;<b>discovered<\/b>&nbsp;America. (NOT Columbus has discovered America.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;<b>simple past tense&nbsp;<\/b>is also used to refer to a belief that has just been shown to be true or false.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It is bigger than I<b>&nbsp;thought<\/b>. (NOT It is bigger than I have thought.)<\/li><li>She is prettier than I&nbsp;<b>expected<\/b>. (NOT She is prettier than I have expected.)<\/li><li>But you&nbsp;<b>promised&nbsp;<\/b>to buy me a good camera! (NOT But you have promised to buy me a good camera!)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Difference between American and British English<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>In American English, the&nbsp;<b><a href=\"http:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/simple-past-tense-overview\/\">simple past<\/a>&nbsp;<\/b>is often used to give news. The&nbsp;<b>present perfect tense<\/b>&nbsp;is also possible, but it is rarely used. In British English the present perfect tense is preferred in this case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>There&nbsp;<b>was&nbsp;<\/b>an explosion near the temple. (US)<\/li><li>There&nbsp;<b>has been&nbsp;<\/b>an explosion near the temple. (GB)<\/li><li>Police&nbsp;<b>arrested&nbsp;<\/b>more than 800 suspected drug traffickers in raids throughout the country. (US)<\/li><li>Police&nbsp;<b>have arrested&nbsp;<\/b>more than 800 suspected drug traffickers \u2026 (GB)<\/li><li>Honey, I&nbsp;<b>lost&nbsp;<\/b>my cellphone. (US)<\/li><li>Honey, I&nbsp;<b>have lost&nbsp;<\/b>my cellphone. (GB)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently, some British newspapers too have regularly started using the&nbsp;<b>simple past tense<\/b>&nbsp;for news announcements. This practice is probably aimed at saving space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In American English, the&nbsp;<b>simple past tense<\/b>&nbsp;is commonly used with indefinite past-time adverbs like&nbsp;<b>already, yet, ever&nbsp;<\/b>and&nbsp;<b>before<\/b>. In British English, these adverbs are almost always used with the present perfect tense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>They&nbsp;<b>already arrived<\/b>. OR They&nbsp;<b>have already arrived<\/b>. (US)<\/li><li>They&nbsp;<b>have already arrived<\/b>. (GB)<\/li><li>I&nbsp;<b>didn\u2019t call<\/b>&nbsp;him&nbsp;<b>yet<\/b>. OR I&nbsp;<b>haven\u2019t called<\/b>&nbsp;him&nbsp;<b>yet<\/b>. (US)<\/li><li>I&nbsp;<b>haven\u2019t called<\/b>&nbsp;him&nbsp;<b>yet<\/b>. (GB)<\/li><\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watch this Youtube video to learn the difference between simple past and present perfect. You can also find a Malayalam version of the same video here. We use the present perfect tense to give&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[716,291,715,419,2833],"class_list":["post-74375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar","tag-present-perfect","tag-present-perfect-tense","tag-simple-past","tag-simple-past-tense","tag-simple-past-vs-present-perfect"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74375"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77998,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74375\/revisions\/77998"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}