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Originally Posted by joham  Hi, Riverkid.
As Martin Hewing says in his ADVANCED GRAMMAR IN USE, when we use the present perfect, it suggests some kind of connection between what happened in the past, and the present time. To a Chinese learner of English like me, you know, the 'Does' in the sentence 'Does Trevor still work there?' shows the present time. So I would think the first speaker wants to learn about the present situation, and therefore, the listener should use a present perfect. If the listener says 'No, he left', then he is saying 'No, he left, like, two months ago'. But the first speaker doesn't want to know when Trevor left. So I would think he or she wouldn't want this answer of 'No, he left'. Am I right in thinking this?
Thank you very much again.
--No, he left. |
Hello, Joham.
If Mr Hewing didn't emphasize that the use of simple past versus the present perfect is a matter of speaker choice, he should have, Joham. I specifically addressed this,
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"But, and this is vitally important. It all depends on speaker choice."
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because, obviously, there must be a reason(s) why we choose one over the other.
Just out of curiosity, Joham, what nationality is Martin Hewing?
Joham: Does Trevor still work here?
worker: No, [with 'no', your question has been answered] he left.
'he left' doesn't address the issue of time. It simply confirms that 'Trevor is no longer there'. 'he's left' also doesn't address the issue of time. It only adds a degree of importance to the collocation.