Quote:
Originally Posted by alrod  I find in some place following sentence:
...
- Mike, as a seargent of the police I came to the office
at 9. Always.
- OK boss. But once I have come at 9 and there was no one over here.
...
Is it right to use perfect form here? The "once" is suspicious.
thanks |
There is a strong tendency among ENLS to avoid using adverbial markers which seem to place a past action at a particular point in time, which then, would tend to cause us to use a past tense.
But, in speech, this strong tendency is sometimes overcome by semantic considerations. Also there is a reason for a speaker to use this adverb, 'once' with the present perfect, the present perfect of experience;
Have you ever come here at 9 AM? How many times have you come here at 9 AM?
Quote:
CGEL (at page 144)
This use of the present perfect [experential] allows for the inclusion, under restrictive conditions, of a past time adjunct.
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I think it would have sounded more "natural" if it had been phrased,
- OK boss. But I have come here once at 9 and there was no one over here.
Remember, the strong tendency that native spekaers have to follow certain "rules" can be overridden for other important language considerations.