 Bokeh wrote: |
| Grammar Geek wrote: | |
Are you saying that the simple past is not used for recent events in BrE?
What about:
I think I saw a ghost!
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GG, that example has different context. You are specifically stating that the sighting is over; if it were not you would use the present tense: I think I [can] see a ghost! In the case of the broken leg though, for example, "I think I have broke my leg" means something happened to make the speaker believe that the bone had broken [pain/impact/etc] and that it is was still broken at the time of the comment. If I heard someone say "I think I broke my leg" I would believe they were talking about a non current event that they could barely remember (maybe a recollection from childhood where the individual remembered the injury was extremely painful but was not sure of the specific diagnosis).
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Thanks for that. (Now, oddly, I would say to someone, "You look like you've just seen a ghost" not "You look like you just saw a ghost." I guess because the scared look remains to the present and it's the "looking like" that merits the present perfect, regardless of when the "seeing" took place.)
Okay, so in American English, "Oh my gosh! I think I just broke my leg!" is perfectly fine. (Perhaps the "Oh my gosh" part is a bit understated, but tense-wise it's fine.) Now, correctness aside, I thought I read previously that simply past is becoming more common to hear in BrE, so would I be likely to actually hear constructions such as "I think I broke my leg"?