http://www.englishforums.com/English/EslGeneralEnglishGrammar-Questions/Forum12.htmAsk your questions on grammar and get your sentence checked. We answer lots of different types of general English grammar questions here. <font color=red>DO NOT post paragraphs and compositions here. Post them in our <a href="http://www.englishforums.com/English/EssayReportCompositionWriting/Forum9.htm"><b>Essay, Report and Composition Writing Forum</b></a>.</font>enXMOD (Build: 3607.32596)http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568365Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:568365CalifJim0http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568365http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-568365.xmlThis is the best explanation I can give on the present perfect. It&#39;s just about the best explanation anybody can give, K. Very well said! CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568213Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:568213Kooyeen1http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568213http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-568213.xmlI agree with those who said it depends on the context, and they might be interchangeable, depending on what you have in mind. If me and my sweetheart are about to leave, I might ask &quot;Did you lock the door?&quot; or &quot;Have you locked the door?&quot; , but if we were already on the road I would only choose the version with the simple past, &quot;Did you lock the door?&quot; The simple past is a general tense you can use to mention whatever happened in the past, whether it was years ago or just seconds ago. The present perfect is actually pretty much of a &quot;present&quot; tense, because although you use it to mention things that happened in the past, the real focus is on the present situation. Have you locked the door? = Is...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568193Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:568193Anonymous2http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#568193http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-568193.xmlMy friend from the previous answer said many things but did not answer your question!! By the way, the comparison is with the Simple Past, and not with the Simple Present. To keep things simple there are some basic situations when you should use the present perfect: 1- Something started in the past but has continued until now = (I&#39;ve lived in NY for 10 years) I still live in NY!! 2- Something has happened but you don&#39;t say, don&#39;t know or it doesn&#39;t matter when that happened = (I&#39;ve bought a new car) - Here the emphasis is on the action and not on when it happened, besides, there is a connection with now!! If you don&#39;t know when something happened, you should use the present perfect instead of the past simple. When...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552738Fri, 22 May 2009 09:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552738CalifJim3http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552738http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552738.xmlCould you also tell me your opinion on this? ... Is it necessary to use I have spoken with or can I also say I spoke with.. You can say whichever you want as long as you say what you mean, i.e., as long as you say what is in your mind. Are you thinking that the act of speaking is &quot;dead and gone&quot;? -- an event that is part of history? Or are you thinking that the act of speaking still has influence or relevance for the present? &quot;In general, use simple past when you&#39;re thinking of the event as dead and buried. Use the present perfect when you think the event still has some chance of influencing the present state of affairs.&quot; CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552695Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552695YSchneider4http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552695http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552695.xmlCould you also tell me your opinion on this? Today I got an e-mail from an US company and there was written: I have spoken with our Quality Manager, Mr. Todd Richardello, and he told me that he has just sent the requested documents, via Fax, to your facility. Is it necessary to use I have spoken with or can I also say I spoke with... What do you feel is different between the meanings of both?http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552665Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552665Yankee5http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552665http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552665.xmlHi Jim I agree with what you&#39;re saying, and I hope you noticed that I wrote &quot;might disagree&quot; in my last post. When I first posted in this thread, I initially tried to pick out what I thought would be most likely choice in AmE, and then finally gave up -- simply because there wasn&#39;t enough context.http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552656Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552656CalifJim6http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552656http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552656.xmlIf I were typing out an e-mail and wanted to tell the person that I was sending an attachment with it, I doubt that I would use the simple past tense. I feel the same. But there&#39;s nothing I could find in the original example that sets up the idea that I am typing out an e-mail! Here&#39;s my version. I had been having so much trouble with some new software that I didn&#39;t think I would ever manage to get a picture attached to an e-mail that I had been working on. And then, today, suddenly -- I don&#39;t know which button I pressed -- the dang thing started working. I attached a picture to the e-mail!! Now I&#39;m confident that it&#39;s finally working. Whew! Moral of the story: The simple past and the present perfect (as isolated...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552648Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552648CalifJim7http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/2/gkgpp/Post.htm#552648http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552648.xmlCJ, If you don&#39;t mind, could you give me context for both of the versions? I don&#39;t see any difference between them. Frankly, I don&#39;t see any difference either, so I just threw darts and picked that one at random. I have no fancy academic explanations for you! (See my next post.) CJhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552551Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:17:21 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552551Yankee8http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552551http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552551.xmlOne example give really confuses me a lot, that&#39;s the I(&#39;ve) attached a picture(to an e-mail) thing. I&#39;ve seen this so often in e-mails from american companys and it was always writen with I have attached, but in my present perfect concept I&#39;d rather choose I attached. Hi YSchneider Yes, that&#39;s one of the sentences I might disagree with CalifJim about. If I were typing out an e-mail and wanted to tell the person that I was sending an attachment with it, I doubt that I would use the simple past tense. I&#39;d probably use either the present perfect OR the present continuous. I&#39;d say the reason for that is probably the extremely close connection with my present activity (typing out the e-mail). I&#39;d also say...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552445Thu, 22 Jan 2009 10:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552445YSchneider9http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552445http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552445.xmlVery intressting so I think that means in many cases it&#39;s possible to use either of them with only a slightly different meaning. By the way today I got an e-mail from an US company and there was written: I have spoken with our Quality Manager, Mr. Todd Richardello, and he told me that he has just sent the requested documents, via Fax, to your facility. Is it necessary to use I have spoken with or can I also say I spoke with... What do you feel is different between the meanings of both? Ps what about the I&#39;ve attached I attached question at the end of an e-mail?http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552422Sun, 22 Feb 2009 10:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552422Diamondrg10http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552422http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552422.xmlHi, YSchneider . I am not a native speaker and this is indeed a tough grammar point for non-native speakers. Here is an extract from CGEL*: Did you lock the front door? in a domestic situation where it is known that the front door is locked at bedtime every night. In that case, is more or less equivalent to Did you lock the front door at bedtime? (Incidentally, in , &quot;the&quot; in &quot;the front door&quot; is another case of situational definiteness; cfS.Uff.) -- The ATTITUDINAL PAST, used with verbs expressing volition or mental state, reflects the tentative attitude of the speaker, rather than past time. In the following pairs, both the present and past tenses refer to a present state of mind, but the latter is...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552415Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552415YSchneider11http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552415http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552415.xmlI guess some people would say that you have to use I&#39;ve opened the window, because it has a result in the presents, you&#39;re cold, but for me it just sounds unnatural to use it that way. What do you think? And what about the I&#39;ve attached vs I attached example I&#39;ve posted above?http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552409Fri, 22 May 2009 09:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552409New2grammar12http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552409http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552409.xmlIt&#39;s so cold!&quot;answer: &quot;I&#39;ve opened the window! or I opened the window! CJ, If you don&#39;t mind, could you give me context for both of the versions? I don&#39;t see any difference between them.http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552399Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552399YSchneider13http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552399http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552399.xmlHi Yankee! Thanks for your answer! I think your right that I possibly didn&#39;t give you enough context! One example give really confuses me a lot, that&#39;s the I(&#39;ve) attached a picture(to an e-mail) thing. I&#39;ve seen this so often in e-mails from american companys and it was always writen with I have attached, but in my present perfect concept I&#39;d rather choose I attached... (what I&#39;ve also thought about is that maybe it&#39;s because it&#39;s a business letter because for me I&#39;ve attached sounds also more formal. Is it ture? Does the present perfect sometimes sound more formal?)http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552365Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552365CalifJim14http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552365http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552365.xmlMy choices in blue. These are very arbitrary; there&#39;s no real-life situation given as a context, so I might use the other one in a different situation. Did you lock the door? (or Have you locked the door?) &quot;It&#39;s so cold!&quot;answer: &quot;I&#39;ve opened the window! or I opened the window! I&#39;ve lost my keys! or I lost my keys! At the doctors: I&#39;ve broken my arm! or I broke my arm! also will he ask you: Have you broken your arm or Did you break your arm! Did you finish your homework or Have you finished your homework? When you&#39;re finished: I&#39;ve finished my homework or I finished my homework! I&#39;ve attached a picture or I attached a picture to the e-mail! He&#39;s fallen asleep! or He fell asleep!...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552308Sun, 22 Mar 2009 10:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552308Yankee15http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htm#552308http://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552308.xmlAs is the case with British English, whether an American uses the simple present or the present perfect often simply depends on how the speaker is viewing a past activity. That said, when either tense is possible according to the &quot;usual rules&quot;, I think there is a noticeable tendency for Americans to choose the simple past tense more often than our British cousins would. There are also a few well-known examples of American usage that probably drive some (but hopefully not all) Brits crazy. For example: &quot;Did you eat yet?&quot; and &quot;I already did that.&quot; The problem with quite a few of your sentences is that there isn&#39;t enough context in the sentences themselves (they&#39;re very short) and/or not enough...http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htmWed, 22 Apr 2009 09:17:22 GMT946f00bb-57d3-4b7b-a9a2-059b5341af52:552260YSchneider16http://www.englishforums.com/English/PresentPerfectAmericans/gkgpp/post.htmhttp://www.englishforums.com/English/comments12-552260.xmlCan&#39;t figure out when americans use present perfect! Please give me some easy rules!? Would you say: Did you lock the door?(or Have you locked the door?) &quot;It&#39;s so cold!&quot;answer: &quot;I&#39;ve opened the window! or I opened the window! I&#39;ve lost my keys! or I lost my keys! At the doctors: I&#39;ve broken my arm! or I broke my arm! also will he ask you: Have you broken your arm or Did you break your arm! Did you finish your homework or Have you finished your homework? When you&#39;re finished: I&#39;ve finished my homework or I finished my homework! I&#39;ve attached a picture or I attached a picture to the e-mail! He&#39;s fallen asleep! or He fell asleep! (when&#39;s asleep now) He&#39;s gotten up or he got...