What's the last movie you've seen?

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Perhaps, these sites also make the same mistakes according to some people.

By the way, the middle two sites are from UK (BBC and Dailymail). Maybe Cool Breeze knew that too! (by saying all four options were okay).

You stated very well about the nature of exchanging opinions. However, for me, when I share my view, I try to state what I know only, without having to say who is right and who is wrong. If I bluntly told others that they were wrong and waited for their acknowledgement of my superiority, I would hate myself for being pompous.

This is my last comment regarding this threat. There are still many other ideas to learn.

Hi Hao Thai,

Your reply is well taken. Many of us have come frequently to post materials here and I trust most volunteers  or visitors will not post incorrect information purposely.  That said, inadvertently we make mental errors at times without recognizing it <<<This is my last comment regarding this threat>> (vs. thread), and I do speak for myself. I made many errors like this.

Internet is a great place for information and to some degree, for validation or verification of the information we hold true.  However, I’ve come to realize a good portion of the posted materials on internet are questionable, invalid and debatable to some degrees.  We already beat that discussion to pulp and should carry it no further.  I have no doubt with your ability to articulate. In fact, I find you with a manipulating command with words.  But I am a bit perplexed about your position on the present perfect use with passed time.

<<<I think that are reputable enough - that use the "what was the ... you have...?">>>

On the BBC 2002 link, it said “what was the last film you saw?” on one of the sample sentences. I thought I point it out.   

Before I zip, I should note,  I agree with your “grandma” context. Peace out!

"Zip " is the same as "shut up", or "say mo more". It is probably classified as "urban English".

Angry, nah! I just keep nagging until you guys are all driven crazy.

I am not sure what you mean by: <<However: «I have seen this movie and I liked it» «I have been to Paris but I didn't see him there»

Are you agreeing or disagreeing with the structures ?

_{There are plenty of instances where present perfect and simple past can co-exist, but not in the same frame of sentence structure.  i.e. “when was the last time you have visited Disneyland”?  (wrong)}

_{If my English knowledge is correct, the following is a valid sentence. Not only it contains present prefect and past, it has a present reference as well.}

_{I have been to Disneyland with my family many times but I can’t remember which year the last visit was.}

_{This kind of mixed tense scenario happens a lot in day-to-day conversations.}  

_{I really don’t think people pick on the correctness much except English fanatics, like us!}

ooops!

I guess I need to apologize because I have no idea you are a lady. I hope I didn't say anything improper!

ETJW-CMD wrote:

Dear Goodman, I am one of Hoa’s friends, a member of a friendly yet private English-To-Join-the-World Club that we co-founded here in Vietnam. Last night, she showed me this thread and asked for my opinion. My first reaction was that the present perfect and past tense combination - in that particular example - is illogical. However, I could understand where she came from - It is not grammatical correctness but situational acceptability. When we get together at our weekly meetings, we sometimes have a good, respectful laugh at the craziness and freedom of English language. Richard Lederer writes, “In this unreliable English tongue, greyhounds aren’t grey; a woodchuck is a groundhog; glowworms are fireflies, but fireflies are not flies (they are beetle)” and “hot dogs can be cold, darkrooms can be lit.” … “Sometimes you have to believe that all English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what other language do people drive in a parkway and park in a driveway?” Such a free spirit coupled with the humors of poking at oneself is what makes the language and its people so wonderful to us. Having said that, I must be fair to Hoa, whom I know of, is a rather sensitive and wonderful lady. I read the text from the sites that she shared - particularly the BBC site – and found out the reason why she selected it.  On page one of the BBC text, we see, “What was the last film you saw?” and on page five, “think of the film you have seen recently, what was it called?” The last one Hoa equated it to “what was the film you have seen recently called?” That is her way to express her ‘coexistence’ ideal: an ungrammatical sentence – but informally acceptable - can coexist with a prescriptive one. Perhaps, the missing connection for all of us is the word recently, which goes rather well with the present perfect! Thank you and Have a good day! Chau My

Hello ETJW-CMD,

First, on behalf of the forum,welcome! I am not exactly sure the purpose of your post but I take it that you are speaking on behalf of Hao Thai. The particular sentence that touched off a rather messy debate was " what was the last film you have seen" if I am not mistaken. By the face value of this sentence, it's deemed ungrammatical in my opinion but as usual, there are always different views. What I said two postings ago which in some ways seemed to share something in common with your post, if I read it right. Nonetheless, I still believe that past tense and present perfect can't coexist in one single sentence. But they are possible in relative clauses. If we want to talk about the name of the movie you saw, we can say "what is the name of the movie you saw last week?" which is clearly a grammatically correct past tense sentence . But when we try to combine simple past with present perfect, such as "what was the name of the movie you have seen recently?", it just sounds awkward to most ears, although it may be understood. That said, I agree adverbs such as "since" and "recently" along with many others can reflect  a present perfect tone. But "what was the name of the movie you have seen recently?" is still not a sound sentence.

Two postings ago I said: 

_{There are plenty of instances where present perfect and simple past can co-exist, but not in the same frame of sentence structure.  i.e. “when was the last time you have visited Disneyland”?  (wrong)}

_{If my English knowledge is correct, the following is a valid sentence. Not only it contains present prefect and past, it has a present reference as well.}

_{I have been to Disneyland with my family many times but I can’t remember which year the last visit was. This kind of mixed tense scenario happens}