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Frage: | past simple vs. present perfect. | |
Good morning, Forum! I talked with my flight-mate for a while. Then, I've spent the rest of my flight reading my favorite book. - Is present perfect the right tense in the second sentence? Or can both simple or present perfect be used there? Is there a difference in the meaning then? Thank you in advance! |
Antwort: | #913244 | |
When you give an account of something that has happened, you always used the present simple: I talked ..., then I spent ..., finally I arrived ... I don't think you can ever use the present perfect tense in combination with "the rest of my flight". |
Antwort: | #913247 | |
Antwort: | #913250 | |
I find this sentence the most probable: I talked with my flight-mate for a while. Then I spent the rest of my flight reading my favorite book. If you say "Then I've spent the rest of the flight reading my favorite book" it implies to me that you are still on the flight and that you've spent the rest of the flight so far reading your book. However, I think in that case, you'd be more likely to say "Since then, I've spent the rest of the flight reading my favorite book." However, this is American English (I know from the spelling of favourite) and Americans often say things slightly differently to Brits, so Americans might disagree with me. |
Chat: | #913254 | |
Just out of curiosity: Wouldn't people rather talk about seatmates? I can find flatmates and first mates in dictionaries, but no flight-mates. |
Chat: | #913255 | |
I'd talk about "the passenger sitting next to me", but I figured it might be an Americanism and "my flight mate" did get some hits on Google. |
Antwort: | #913256 | |
4;9:39: You should limit your search to English-speaking domains: Keine Ergebnisse für "I've spent the rest of my flight" site:uk gefunden Keine Ergebnisse für "I've spent the rest of my flight" site:us gefunden Keine Ergebnisse für "I've spent the rest of my flight" site:au gefunden |
Antwort: | Actually, the difference in usage of the present perfect and past simple is very perplexing. | #913262 |
One would read many explanations in Grammar books about when to use them, and yet you would find them used in newspapers and English media in different way than mentioned in Grammar books. For example, you may find past simple used in a sentence with no time stated. I would like to know how English native speakers look at this point? |
Antwort: | #913264 | |
Eine Zeitangabe ist keine Vorraussetzung für den den Gebrauch des einfachen Präteritums im Englischen. Wenn das Grammatikbücher behaupten, dann sind sie schlecht. Meist steht dort aber nur, wenn es eine Zeitangabe gibt, ist das ein Fall für die simple past tense. Da wäre es eine Fehlinterpretation, den Umkehrschluss zu ziehen und zu glauben, diese Zeitform verlange immer eine Zeitangabe. |
Antwort: | #913267 | |
4;dalianabhan, English native speakers don't think about it. We just know what the tense someone else has used means in their sentence and which tense fits our sentence. As far as I can make out, it's mainly about whether an action has completely finished or not. But we don't think of it like that. We just know which one we want to use and know what the tense that another person has used implies. I never think about which past tense I want to use (apart from when doing a translation, as sometimes it can be hard to work out which tense is meant). The right tense for what I mean always just comes into my head. People who have learned English as a second language are the ones who know all the handy tips and tricks. |
Antwort: | #913271 | |
As an American, I would say: I talked to / with the person sitting next to me for awhile. Then I read my favorite book for the rest of the flight. / Then I spent the rest of the flight reading my favorite book. I agree with Windfall. I don't think about about the grammar. |
Antwort: | Can we say that the present perfect is used to indicate an action that has just finished or with a result for the present time? | #913273 |
Antwort: | #913274 | |
I'd put it slightly differently: The present perfect tense is used to emphasize the impact of a previous action on the present, e.g. the fact that something has been terminated, the state of being that has been achieved, the recentness of an action (just finished) or the general nature of a statement (I've never been to Scotland). Be aware that Americans often use the simple past tense in some of those cases. |
Antwort: | https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/p... | #913276 |
... up to the present / up to right now when you are breathing, not up to a point in the past that was the present there and then. |
Antwort: | Benefits to be derived from grammatical skills | #913277 |
Antwort: | PS: https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/18385/ | #913278 |
Phonemes, rimes, vocabulary and grammatical skills as foundations of early reading development: evidence from a longitudinal study Muter, Valerie, Hulme, Charles, Snowling, Margaret J. and Stevenson, Jim (2004) Phonemes, rimes, vocabulary and grammatical skills as foundations of early reading development: evidence from a longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 40 (5), 665-681. (doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.5.665). Abstract The authors present the results of a 2-year longitudinal study of 90 British children beginning at school entry when they were 4 years 9 months old (range = 4 years 2 months to 5 years 2 months). |
Chat: | Of course, grammar skills would have done nicely | #913279 |
Antwort: | Thank you all for your answers and your help. | #913281 |
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