[General] I haven't heard\I didn't hear

[mihallure]

Hello,

In the text "Hasn't mother come back yet? Yes, she came half an hour ago. She went straight to the kitchen. Funny (not to hear) her)" the verb indicated by the answer key is "I haven't heard".
My question is if the past tense 'I didn't hear' can be also used.
Thank you.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello,

In the text "Hasn't mother come back yet? Yes, she came half an hour ago. She went straight to the kitchen. Funny (not to hear) her)" the verb indicated by the answer key is "I haven't heard".
My question is if the past tense 'I didn't hear' can be also used.
Thank you.

Yes, it would be possible to say "She went straight to the kitchen. It's funny that I didn't hear her". In fact, "I haven't heard her" seems very unnatural in that context.

 

[swankydoo]

I would say that the answer provided by your answer key is wrong.

...we use Present Perfect to describe events that happened at an unspecified time before the present.
In your sentence the time is clearly specified - "Yes. She came half an hour ago.'
...as in 'Funny I didn't hear her (come)".

This is only my interpretation though.

 

[emsr2d2]

"She came half an hour ago" is somewhat unnatural too.

- Hasn't Mother come back yet?
- Yes, she came back half an hour ago.

The question uses "come back" which means "return". The response should use the same. "Come" doesn't mean the same as "return".

 

[swankydoo]

I completely agree.
I believe that generally something needs to be wrong with your text.

 

[mihallure]

It's a grammar book written by a Romanian grammarian. Unfortunately I've also found lots of other mistakes.
It seems it's better to avoid it in the future because it only makes things more complicated when it comes to grammar.
Thank you.

 

[swankydoo]

Exactly.
Take care.

 

[Barb_D]

"I didn't hear her" - when she came home
"I haven't heard her" - in all that time since you said she came home.

It just depends on what the speaker meant.

 

[emsr2d2]

"I didn't hear her" - when she came home
"I haven't heard her" - in all that time since you said she came home.

It just depends on what the speaker meant.

Ah, I thought the same person said "Yes, she came half an hour ago. She went straight to the kitchen. Funny not to hear her". I did wonder how the person who said it knew that Mother had gone straight to the kitchen if he/she hadn't seen/heard her!

 

[Barb_D]

Oh - I think you're right. I guess he was saying "Funny you didn't hear her." But who knows... the whole thing is a big odd.