Tenses

Share on Facebook

Guest

#26513 Mon, 29 Mar 04 08:42 AM

I've noticed lately, particularly in police reports on the news, this kind of past tense -

"He's walked down the road - he's broken into a car - he's driven it for so many kilometres, then he's broken into a shop and stolen cigarettes and money. He's been observed and the police have been called."

Could this be called Past Perfect or is it incorrect? It grates on me every time I hear it.

Amalter.

Guest

Tenses, Past perfect, Past tenses

learner

#26546 Mon, 29 Mar 04 01:45 PM

It was all written in the Present Perfect Tense:

He has walked down the road
he has broken into a car
he has driven it for so many kilometres
then he has broken into a shop and stolen cigarettes and money

He has been observed and the police have been called. (present perfect too, but in the passive voice)

learner

Joined on Tue, Feb 24 2004

Brazil

Full Member (104)

Tenses, Present perfect

rommie

#26556 Mon, 29 Mar 04 02:58 PM

It IS present perfect, but it's being used incorrectly.

A sequence of statements in past tense imply that they happened in the order described, BUT
a sequence of statements in present perfect does not imply this.

Example:
"He walked down the road. He broke into a car" -- implies that the walking happened FIRST, and the breaking in happened NEXT.

But:
"He has walked down the road. He has broken into a car" -- carries no such implication. The events could have happened in any order.

If the intention of your news report was to convey a sequence of events, they are using the wrong tense.
Rommie

rommie