In Present tenses^x, American English^x, Simple past^x

"I wondered whether you could help me?",Simple past, completed action. This is not present tense, but I suppose the "past time" could be one second ago. I don't use this. "I had wondered whether you could help me?"Past perfect tense. The action (wonder)...

Bokeh wrote: Grammar Geek wrote: Are you saying that the simple past is not used for recent events in BrE? What about:I think I saw a ghost! GG, that example has different context. You are specifically stating that the sighting is over; if it were not you would use the present tense: I think...