[Grammar] Have you ever heard the story? = Did you hear the story?

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sky3120

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Have you ever heard the story?
= Did you hear the story?

A: Is she here?
B: She has gone out.
= She went out.

There has been an accident.
= There was an accident.

I have learned about the difference between the past tense and the present perfect tense a lot and my grammar book also says some native English speakers, especially some Americans use both tenses for the same meaning like the examples above, so I would like to know if you agree with this? I think that they could be used for the same meaning regardless of grammar difference. What do you think?

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BobK

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No, but I speak British English. (If some national variants choose not to make what I see as a useful distinction, that's their lookout. ;-))

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Barb_D

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No.

If she "has gone out" it affects the present. She is still out.
You could say "She went out earlier but she's back now." Or you could say "She went out three hours ago and still hasn't come home."

The second pair COULD be used in the same situation. You come across a scene: What happened?? or What's happened?? But you could have had or seen that accident 20 years ago. Our trip to the mountains didn't turn out as expected. There was an accident on the road ahead. We took a detour and...
 

SoothingDave

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I'm not sure why you have an "ever" in the one and not in the other. "Did you ever hear the story?" is equivalent to "have you ever heard the story?"

"She has gone out" and "she went out" are semantically the same to me, absent more context. If I walk into an office and ask where Sue is, I could expect either answer. They both mean "she isn't here right now."
 

MikeNewYork

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This is one of many situations in which the past and the present perfect can have the same meaning. There is a lot of overlap.
 
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