In Present perfect^x, Verbs^x, American English^x

 Sure, and the difference is not only in the tense. In the original sentence "packed" is an adjective, and in yours it is a verb!  

Hi, Welcome to the Forum. Which one of the following is correct? If all are correct, what situations would warrant one and not the others? Thank you/ - Please do not sit on the couch until you have gotten permission. - Please do not sit on the couch before you have gotten permission. -...

Kooyeen wrote:Hi,which verb tenses can be used with "until recently"? I thought only the simple past or the past continuous could be used, but I've also seen some perfect tenses... Is there any difference?American English, as always:He worked in NY until recently. <-- ok, I think OKHe has...

Hi, welcome to Englishforums. You can also use the search function to search the forum for interesting threads (there's a search button in the top right corner of every page). I would use "did", not "have". The simple past focus on something that happened and keeps that action...

Yeah, Tam is right when he criticize ESLese. ESLese is often the source of most ESL students. We are not confused by English, but by ESLese's rules. And Michael Swan, hahaha, I've never liked that guy. Ok, I hate him.Anyway, I think Amy is saying that however small, there are differences in the...

Ana, if you are trying to understand the difference between the present perfect and the past simple, well, you can't? And why? Because every learner have been trying to do that since English was invented, but no one has ever succeeded! It is a trap! Ok, seriously, I can tell you the way I...

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...

From what I gather from thise post, American English people tend to use more the Simple Past with those adverbs, right? I think we use both. I recently took a trip to Chicago. CJ