Basic Grammar Step by Step Second Edition
Mary W. Ng
Chapter 29
The Past Simple Tense or the Present Perfect Tense?
The past simple tense tells us about the past. We use the past simple tense to talk about a finished action.
| You won a medal. | (You had a medal.) |
| They flew to Miami. | (They were in Miami.) |
The present perfect tense links the past with the present. We use the present perfect tense to talk about a finished action that has present result.
| You have won a medal. | (You have a medal now.) |
| They have flown to Miami. | (They are in Miami now.) |
We use the past simple tense with a time expression to talk about a finished action. The time period indicated by the time expression is finished at the time of speaking.
| Time Expression | ||
|---|---|---|
| He worked | for ten years. | (He doesn’t work now.) |
| You taught | for two years. | (You don’t teach now.) |
We use the present perfect tense with a time expression to talk about the duration of an action. The time period indicated by the time expression is not finished at the time of speaking.
| Time Expression | ||
|---|---|---|
| He has worked | for ten years. | (He still works.) |
| You have taught | for two years. | (You still teach.) |
We use the past simple tense with a definite past time expression to talk about an action that started and ended at a definite time in the past. Some examples of definite past time expressions are: a month ago, last night, last week, this morning, yesterday.
| Definite Past Time Expression | |
|---|---|
| You won a medal | yesterday. |
| She fell down the stairs | last night. |
We do not use the present perfect tense with definite past time expressions.
To talk about an action that happened right before another action, we use the past simple tense.
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