By Adverbs, Simple past

The difference is subtle. The present perfect is conceptually a step removed from the real action of the simple past. The present perfect is indirect compared to the direct simple past.I read a magazine today expresses what happened. It tells what I did directly. I have read a magazine today...

Hi, I know that you use the simple past for an action happened in a definite time in the past and the present perfect for a time period that didn’t end yet. There's more to it than that. You need to review the uses of the Present perfect in a good grammar book. Once, I heard Peter Griffin say...

Hi, I know that you use the simple past for an action happened in a definite time in the past and the present perfect for a time period that didn’t end yet. Once, I heard Peter Griffin say this on an episode of “the family guy”: I’ve never asked for anything, but I don’t know where else to...

ETJW-CMD wrote: Dear Goodman, I am one of Hoa’s friends, a member of a friendly yet private English-To-Join-the-World Club that we co-founded here in Vietnam. Last night, she showed me this thread and asked for my opinion. My first reaction was that the present perfect and past tense...

Let me repeat a chart I drew in another post. Present Point of View Tenses ........ have done ......... do/does .............will do ......... Present Perfect Present Future of the Present Past Point of View Tenses ........had done .........did...

Hi,little question:I know I can use the simple past instead of the the present perfect with some adverbs, like "already", "just", ect. What about using the simple past instead of the past perfect? That's common, but I don't kow if it is still common when some adverbs are used. Examples:I (have)...

I always thank them in my threads (well, sometimes I forget). Yeah, sometimes I wonder why they do this. Some questions are boring, simple, stupid, strange, odd... (I ask a lot of those), for example "the difference between simple past and present perfect", "tenses in reported speech", "position...

Hi HiroYes, you can use the simple past tense and an adverb such as often or regularly to indicate that something didn't happen often in the past (and therefore was not habitual). The negative form of "used to" is often used when something was not habitual in the past, but is habitual now:He...

Kooyeen wrote:Hi again,well, I think sometimes it's a matter of taste. I asked an American about "I never knew" and "I've never known" because I was not 100% sure of what I said, and it turned out that "never knew" can be used instead of "have never known" as well (so it seems it's not an...

Thank you so much, Amy and Jim.I perfectly understand that the usage I'm describing is highly dependent on context. That's why I tried to put my examples in a decent context. I also perfectly understand that often the present perfect is simply better in the examples I posted. What I wanted to...