[shun]

Originally Posted by riverkid

The only problem, Shun, is that we would not, in this case, use 'noodle' without an 's'.

There is no problem in using "noodles", please check "noodles" on internet. Or you may check exactly "order noodles". I always order two kinds of noodles at once.

Originally Posted by riverkid

The present perfect is fine in this situation, but that doesn't mean it's the only choice.

Of course we may any kinds of tenses in news. But I am pointing at the usual expressions of tenses in news, where they mostly use Simple Past, as in the following:

France wants EU meeting over Lebanon By Swaha Pattanaik

2 hours, 14 minutes ago

PARIS (Reuters) - France CALLED on Sunday for a European Union meeting next week to co-ordinate what member countries plan to do about a U.N. force for Lebanon.

"We ask that European solidarity is expressed as soon as possible about Lebanon," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy TOLD France Info radio, adding he had asked EU president Finland to call a meeting in Brussels early next week.

France WANTED "to know what our different European partners count on doing as quickly as possible about Lebanon," he said.

France has pledged to send only 200 extra troops to Lebanon, disappointing Washington and the United Nations, which had hoped it would form the backbone of an expanded U.N. force.

On Saturday, President Jacques Chirac SPOKE to leaders from several countries, including Italy's Romano Prodi and Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen, to stress the need for a clearer mandate for the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

In Rome, Prodi's office SAID he discussed the force in separate telephone conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

Both men TOLD Prodi they appreciated that Italy was ready "to assume a role of primary importance" in the mission.

Italy's chances of leading the force have increased following France's apparent reluctance to commit more troops.

1. In the news, the two Present Perfect actions -- Has Pledged and Has Increased -- have happened before Sunday's Simple Past actions, but why don't they reporters use Past Perfect? In grammars, we understand that those things finished before Simple Past should be in Past Perfect, don't we?

2. My theme question is, however, as in "In Rome, Prodi's office SAID he discussed....", when will the reporter use Simple Past SAID? Is it at once when he hears it? If so, it is ungrammatical. This also hardly explains why do reporters use Simple Present "says" sometimes.

Or is it when the reporter is back in press room, pretending the saying is now over? If so, however, why is the news headline in Simple Present "wants"?