have killed over 230,000 victims...

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thx0110

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Is this sentence correct?

The recent earthquakes have killed over 230,000 victims.
 

bhaisahab

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BobK

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... although I'd think twice about 'killing/victims'. 'The recent earthquakes have killed/injured over 230,000 people' (if that's true - do your victims include livestock/pets?). Or 'The recent earthquakes have had/claimed over 230,000 victims'. (There are, of course, contexts where the simple past would fit.)

b
 

thx0110

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... although I'd think twice about 'killing/victims'. 'The recent earthquakes have killed/injured over 230,000 people' (if that's true - do your victims include livestock/pets?). Or 'The recent earthquakes have had/claimed over 230,000 victims'. (There are, of course, contexts where the simple past would fit.)

b

(There are, of course, contexts where the simple past would fit.)

- Do you mean the situation when the date or the moment when these earthquakekes happend is/was known and is not going to happen again.
E.g.

The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people each year.
The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people one day before.
The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people in 2003.
The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people in 2010.

Are these sentences correct? I am not sure and especially about the last one, because this year is still up and running :)

Thanks
 

BobK

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In Br English, the word 'recent' makes it more likely that you should use the perfect. I think some speakers of Am English might be happy with the simple past in that case - perhaps we could wait for a Transatlantic view.

Some of those sentences would be unacceptable in Br English:

The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people [STRIKE]each year[/STRIKE]. :-? (You can't have 'recent' and 'each year'. In fact, if you use 'each year' the simple present would be better: 'Each year, earthquakes kill over 230,000 people.' But you could have this:
Earthquakes killed over 230,000 people every year in the past decade - although some Br English speakers would hold that even in this case only the present perfect is OK.)

The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people[STRIKE] one day before[/STRIKE].:cross:

The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people [STRIKE]in 2003[/STRIKE].:-? Perhaps you could use "- in 2003, that is" as a way of explaining why you didn't use the present perfect after 'recent'.

The recent earthquakes killed over 230,000 people in 2010.:cross: You're right to be doubtful about this one; you would probably need to start with "So far, in 2010, ..." and then go on to use a present perfect.

In short, bhaisahab's answer was OK as far as Br English goes. I only mentioned the simple past because the subject of your post suggested to me that you weren't sure about needing a present perfect here. And some speakers of Am English, in other threads, have said they'd use the simple past.

b
 
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