when+present perfect to mean past action

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ostap77

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Would this sentence be grammatical?

"Has there ever been a day when there's been nothing to put in the news?"
 

5jj

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ostap77

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What's the difference between the use of the present perfect and the past simple after "when"?

"............when there's been nothing to put in the news."

OR

"...........when there was nothing to put in the news."
 

ostap77

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What's the difference between the use of the present perfect and the past simple after "when"?

"............when there's been nothing to put in the news."

OR

"...........when there was nothing to put in the news."

I would very much to like if there's any difference.
 

Raymott

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I would very much to like if there's any difference.
Only stylistically. I'd be inclined to use the perfect tense in both clauses.
An American might prefer, "Was there ever a day when there was nothing to put in the news?" But the meaning remains the same (in most contexts, assuming that days still occur in which nothing might happen to put in the news.).
 
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