hotapplepie
Member
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2012
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- Taiwan
- Current Location
- Taiwan
Hello!
Could anyone help me with a question of tenses?
"Since" is used with two different kinds of tenses---simple past and present perfect.
Here is some examples I want to compare with:
1.He hasn't seen his brother since he has left his country.(since + present perfect)
2.He has lived here since he graduated from college.(since + simple past)
My question focuses on the tense of the since clause.
I was told the key of the tense of since clause is whether the action or status in the clause continues to the moment of speaking.
But recently I saw an example in Oxford dictionary:
"It's twenty years since I've seen her."
I am wondering why it doesn't use saw instead of have seen.
I would think "see someone" isn't an action that continues to now, rather an action at a specific time in the past. So why does here in this sentence use present perfect tense?
Thanks.
Could anyone help me with a question of tenses?
"Since" is used with two different kinds of tenses---simple past and present perfect.
Here is some examples I want to compare with:
1.He hasn't seen his brother since he has left his country.(since + present perfect)
2.He has lived here since he graduated from college.(since + simple past)
My question focuses on the tense of the since clause.
I was told the key of the tense of since clause is whether the action or status in the clause continues to the moment of speaking.
But recently I saw an example in Oxford dictionary:
"It's twenty years since I've seen her."
I am wondering why it doesn't use saw instead of have seen.
I would think "see someone" isn't an action that continues to now, rather an action at a specific time in the past. So why does here in this sentence use present perfect tense?
Thanks.