Past Simple or Present Perfect?

[Jesse20]

If I said :
I have seen them since yesterday
Is that sentence correct ?

Actually, using since ie I havent smoked since three days.
and using for ie I have stayed in Australia for a week
make Present Perfect so easy and clear to me

[Tdol]

I have see them since yesterday- dodgy
I haven't seen them since yesterday

[ssssinan]

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Tdol

I could say 'I haven't had lunch today', unfished time and I expect to have luch. If I have left my office and am on the bus home I could say 'I did a lot of work today'. Here, the day has not ended, but the working part has and I don't expect to do any more work.

But you could also say,

"I've done a lot of work today."

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by Tdol

1. I have seen them since yesterday- dodgy
2. I haven't seen them since yesterday

It's only dodgy because of the meaning, not because of the grammar. The verb 'see' does not carry a durative meaning very well. Change it to 'watch' and it's fine, or 'been with them' or any other verb with a durative sense.

[OhAh]

I think that there may be the situation when it is possible to say "have seen".
-I want to see a president/favourite actor/sportsman ect...
-I have seen him yesterday!

It's still very important.

[riverkid]

Originally Posted by OhAh

I think that there may be the situation when it is possible to say "have seen".
-I want to see a president/favourite actor/sportsman ect...
-I have seen him yesterday!
It's still very important.

I agree, it definitely happens, OhAh, but for ENLs, there is a strong tendency to separate the present perfect used like this, for adding importance, from any past time adjuncts [additions].

In speech you'd most likely hear something like this;

I have seen him ... yesterday!

[Teia]

Hi

The correct answer is past simple because the adverb "yesterday" states a finished action at a past time.

Regards,

[riverkid]

In this situation, Teia, the past simple would definitely be, BY far, the most common usage. But this is not always the case. As noted in the CGEL;

+++++++++++++++++++

Past time adjuncts in experential perfects

This use of the present perfect allows for the inclusion, under restrictive [semantic] conditions, of a past time adjunct.

Chapter 3 The Verb - page 144

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Has anyone a copy of Michael Swan, Practical English Usage? There is a portion in the section on Present Perfect that discusses this very issue.

I've found OR I found that I've given/ I gave mine away.



**************

A CAVEAT: ESLs, please note that this is an extremely uncommon usage and as the CGEL stated, it occurs in extremely limited situations under extremely limited conditions.

[1364]

well, present perfect and past tense are some how similar to each other but there are some differences between this tow :

1. simple past: action happen in the past and finished.

2.a) present perfect start in the past but there is no definite time (unknown time :yesterday ,last month,...)! so we can use : so far , just , recently,...

2.b)the only tense that acts as a bridge between past and present.

All the best,