on vs since

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New2grammar

#514559 Fri, 16 May 08 08:54 PM

Ali al-Naimi, the Saudi oil minister, on Friday said the country had increased its production by 300,000 barrels a day on May 10 in response to customer requests.

Is it correct to use 'on' with perfect tense? Is since better?

Thanks in advance

New2grammar

Joined on Tue, Nov 21 2006

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Tenses

Grammar Geek

#514567 Fri, 16 May 08 09:33 PM

Yes, "since" would be better, assuming they did not increase it for only that one day, May 10.

Grammar Geek

Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006

Pennsylvania, USA

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New2grammar

#514569 Fri, 16 May 08 09:37 PM

GG, asuming the increase only applied to that particular day, would the sentence still be correct? I guess not. If not, how would you rephrase it by changing as little as possible

Thanks!

New2grammar

Grammar Geek

#514573 Fri, 16 May 08 09:40 PM

If it applied to only that day, it's correct as written, OR you could use simple past: they increased production on May 10.

Grammar Geek

Simple past

New2grammar

#514578 Fri, 16 May 08 09:51 PM

GG, thanks for the suggestion of using simple past.

Since I've come across a sentence which uses perfect tense with a point in the past ('on'), I would like to understand why it's acceptable.

I was told that perfect tenses don't work with a specific point in the past, for example,

??I have had lunch at 12. 30. (I had lunch at 12.30 -correct)

??We've been to his house yesterday (We went to his house yesterday)

Why is it acceptable in this context?

New2grammar

Tenses, Simple past

Grammar Geek

#514581 Fri, 16 May 08 09:59 PM

Well, first of all, I said that since would be better.

Second, note that it's PAST perfect, not present perfect.

We had had a big lunch at 12:30, so I wasn't ready for birthday cake at 2. We had been to his house only yesterday, apparently only shortly before the fire broke out.

I guess that they are suggesting that the increase is an ongoing thing, like "set a new level for product" as opposed to the action of pumping the oil.

They had set a new level for daily production on May 10, so this subsquent request for yet another increase was ignored would be okay.

Grammar Geek

Past perfect, Present perfect

New2grammar

#514587 Fri, 16 May 08 10:21 PM

This is something new and big to me. I didn't know that the violation of inserting a time in the past when using perfect tense only applied to PRESENT perfect tense. I thought the rule applied to all types of perfect tenses which is why I gave my examples, examples that I'm confortable with, in present perfect tense.

Thanks GG!

New2grammar

Tenses, Present perfect