By Simple past, Tenses

Mr. Wordy:>In this context, the perfect tense tends to suggest activity that was repeated or habitual until the time it stopped.I know several people who would agree with you on that. John Holmes said:-- > 1) It's a long time since they HAVE LIVED in London. 1) suggests they have...

To me, this is not the full story (and it's also a poor example). In this context, the perfect tense tends to suggest activity that was repeated or habitual until the time it stopped. For example, It's a long time since I've had a cigarette. -- reinforces the idea that I used to...

OK, let's get official here. I should've done it from the beginning:--But since can also be used as a conjunction of time, introducing its own clause. The tense in the since-clause can be perfect or past, depending on the meaning. Compare:I've known her since we were at school...

I do not personally think that the first sentence is either messy or strange. It is possible, with additional context, for both the perfect tense and the simple past to be used in the situation where someone has just moved back to London after a long period away. For example, you walk into...

I agree to the above suggestion.In fact the original sentence appears all right.However, if it is a test on consistency, then the answer may be: When the Research Department (A) started (B) working and worked on a new shampoo, we (C) received phone calls from other researchers who (D) worked on...

Are you sure that you copied those right-hand sentences correctly? Neither of them is good English, except, unusually, in the context of a present-tense narrative, which I can't imagine is the intention here (and in any case would not lead to correct interpretations of the sentences in...

That "if" clause is not in the past. When you use the simple past tense in the "if" it is still possible that the "if" clause could be fulfilled.

.You are printing a certificate which states a factual event in historical time. The verb tense you use has nothing to do with when you conceive, print or present the certificate. Use the simple past with the date service began and the date service finished.

Hi, If I say: "You sent it to me", is that correct? Or do I have to say "You have sent it to me"? Let me ask you to consider these two examples.I cooked dinner. Describes a simple past event. Maybe I did this 30 minutes ago, or 30 years ago.I have cooked dinner. This describes...

Hello, everyone: For the phrase "in the past", "during the past ten years..." , and "within these few days" I've check my dictionaries and searched in the Internet, and I found that they tend to use "present perfect". So I'm wondering if they could...