[Grammar] Using I've been in a sentence with past tense verb

[rajeev123]

So, I wanted to write this line in one of the emails to my friends but I wasn't sure if it is grammatically correct or not. Do you find anything wrong with this sentence ?

"I've lately been receiving very many emails where I saw people using the term "revert" instead of "reply"."

and also

"Reverting is going back to a previous state - as in when you ask someone to "revert back" you are asking him/her to go back to become an ape again"

 

[Tdol]

The first is possible, though I've seen would work too. The second doesn't seem logical to me. People are unlikely to be asking you to reverse evolution; it's more likely that they're asking asking you to change back to an earlier state/date, etc.

 

[Oll Korrect]

Interesting.

Think about a simplified example: "I've been to Italy, and I loved it."

The first half (with the present perfect) means that over all the time you've been alive, you've been to Italy. The second half (with past simple) means that at the specific time you were in Italy, you loved it.

So:

"Ive been receiving" covers a broad period of time (reaching to the present), and present perfect works best.

If you switch to past simple, as in the example, you're referring to many individual moments in time, saying something like, "Each time I received an email, I saw."

 

[andrewg927]

You won't find people say "revert" instead of "reply" in America. Your second sentence is indeed illogical. Humans can't go back to become an ape again. They can however live like an ape.

 

[andrewg927]

Interesting.

Think about a simplified example: "I've been to Italy, and I loved it."

The first half (with the present perfect) means that over all the time you've been alive, you've been to Italy. The second half (with past simple) means that at the specific time you were in Italy, you loved it.

So:

"Ive been receiving" covers a broad period of time (reaching to the present), and present perfect works best.

If you switch to past simple, as in the example, you're referring to many individual moments in time, saying something like, "Each time I received an email, I saw."

Are you asking a question here or are you just writing out your thoughts?

 

[rajeev123]

You won't find people say "revert" instead of "reply" in America. Your second sentence is indeed illogical. Humans can't go back to become an ape again. They can however live like an ape.

I actually saw lot of my friends using the term "revert" instead of "reply". They say for example " Please revert back if you need more information". This gets me everytime. So I am trying to be sarcastic here and explain them with a sarcastic example saying "Reverting is going back to a previous state - as in when you ask someone to "revert back" you are asking him/her to go back to being an ape again".

 

[andrewg927]

I actually saw lot of my friends using the term "revert" instead of "reply". They say for example " Please revert back if you need more information". This gets me everytime. So I am trying to be sarcastic here and explain them with a sarcastic example saying "Reverting is going back to a previous state - as in when you ask someone to "revert back" you are asking him/her to go back to being an ape again".

Are your friends English native speakers? I can guess why they say that. It is not incorrect but "revert" does not mean "reply" here. I don't want to wild guess so could you give me a little context why they say "revert back"?

 

[rajeev123]

Are your friends English native speakers? I can guess why they say that. It is not incorrect but "revert" does not mean "reply" here. I don't want to wild guess so could you give me a little context why they say "revert back"?

No they are not native English speakers. Here is an excerpt from an email I received - "One of my friends is looking for accommodation in so and so place. Could you please contact him if u have any accommodation.He is also looking for someone who can pick him up from the airport on 29th January. Please revert him back on the below number".

They use revert instead of reply every single time.

 

[andrewg927]

If it is an email, they should use "call him on the number below". You only reply to a number via SMS.

 

[rajeev123]

Interesting.

Think about a simplified example: "I've been to Italy, and I loved it."

The first half (with the present perfect) means that over all the time you've been alive, you've been to Italy. The second half (with past simple) means that at the specific time you were in Italy, you loved it.

So:

"Ive been receiving" covers a broad period of time (reaching to the present), and present perfect works best.

If you switch to past simple, as in the example, you're referring to many individual moments in time, saying something like, "Each time I received an email, I saw."

Excellent explanation !! Yes so I am talking about an action that has begun at some point in the past and is still in progress. So when I want to talk about a particular window taken from the time the action actually began to the time I am typing the email can I use the simple past verb saw because it is actually in the past. Right ?