By Tenses, American English

Yankee wrote:I do see your point, though. I suppose we would tend to be more "willing" to use the present perfect in a sentence such as "My bike's been stolen." -- especially with "Damn!" preceding it. Still, I wouldn't find "Damn! My bike was stolen!" particularly odd in everyday AmE.Thanks...

Hi,good question. If you want the "exact" passive version of "stole", then it's "was stolen". But if you consider that example you gave, then... it's something I've always wanted to know. I think I also asked here, but I got no answer. Let's try again.American active exclamation #1: Damn!...

Thank you Yankee for your detailed answer, but I'm still hopelessly confused about when to use the present perfect and when to use the simple past. You brought up an interesting point about the differences between American English and British English. I wonder if a Brit would find it more natural...

That's interesting. I find "It's time " just fine too. I never knew it was another American English oddity. On another note, I also think you can delete the "for" in the first pair: How long are you staying?

Hi,sorry, I should have looked up more words in MW before. I just realized that I probably must not pay attention to that distinction. So, the fact that they separate a sound from what follows doesn't affect the way it is usually pronunced when followed by a particular sound. So a tense a + n, m,...

Hi, 1) As you say, the sentence is correct both with and without 'has'. If you use the present perfect (in UK English at least) it suggests that the picture might be new. I think American English speakers are more likely to use the past simple tense. 2) I would say this sentence is fine. 3)I...

Anonymous wrote:Thanks Yankee. The original sentence is I've got to go on a business journey to Rome next weekend. journey has to be changed to trip, right? But my friend insisted that this sentence is right: I've got a journey to go on business in Rome next week.I agree with CJ that you...

Kooyeen wrote:Hi,Could someone comment on these? I don't understand the difference between present perfect and past simple in passive constructions. Can both of the tenses be used, even if something just happened? (for example, the bank was robbed 1 minute ago or later)Holy cannoli! What a...

Hi,Could someone comment on these? I don't understand the difference between present perfect and past simple in passive constructions. Can both of the tenses be used, even if something just happened? (for example, the bank was robbed 1 minute ago or later)Holy cannoli! What a mess... You guys all...

I've just had lunch is an example of the Present Perfect, a tense used to connect past actions to the present. It is correct in this case, because it connects the past action of eating to the present state (being full) and the consequences (not wanting to eat any more).It is not so common in many...