You have eaten all the ice cream?

[Bonil Koo]

hi.
i can't understand the present perfect tense.

Are "You have eaten all the ice cream?" and "you ate all the ice cream?" different each other?

"I have lost my wallet" - "I lost my wallet"
"Did you eat your lunch?" - "Have you eaten your lunch?"

what's the difference?

[Barb_D]

The present perfect connects the past action to the present in some way.

You have eaten all the ice cream. Now I can't have any.
You ate the ice cream. No wonder you're putting on weight.

I've lost my wallet. Now I have to cancel my credit cards, get a new driver's licence, and, oh, by the way, you have to pay for lunch today.
I went to Prague in the spring of 2009. It was a great trip, except that I lost my wallet.

[TheParser]

The present perfect connects the past action to the present in some way.

You have eaten all the ice cream. Now I can't have any.
You ate the ice cream. No wonder you're putting on weight.

I've lost my wallet. Now I have to cancel my credit cards, get a new driver's licence, and, oh, by the way, you have to pay for lunch today.
I went to Prague in the spring of 2009. It was a great trip, except that I lost my wallet.

Moderator Barbara,

I notice that you spelled it "licence." Is there a reason that

you spelled it the British way?

Thank you

[5jj]

I notice that you spelled it "licence." Is there a reason that you spelled it the British way?

Perhaps civilised ways are slowly creeping across the pond.

Or perhaps it was just a typo.

[TheParser]

Perhaps civilised ways are slowly creeping across the pond.

Or perhaps it was just a typo.

"Civilised"???

Seriously, though, are any British spellings starting to conform with

American spelling?

[5jj]

"Civilised"??? You bet!

Seriously, though, are any British spellings starting to conform with American spelling?

Apart from anything else, the programs on my computer. They should be programmes.