I have achieved everything I ever wanted.

[Dominik92]

Hello all!


It´s all about this sentence:

I have achieved everything I ever wanted.

To be more concrete I wonder whether I can use past simple in the second part of the sentence if I wanted to emphasise that "I wanted to achieve this and this..." = e.g. at the beginning of the long "journey" and now "I have achieved it". Would it be perfectly possible even in British English to make distinction like this or would you prefer present perfect in both parts of the sentence?


Thank you!

 

[tedmc]

You wanted something in the past and you have achieved it, so the past tense is appropriate.

 

[Dominik92]

Thanks.

On the other hand I can view the situation the way that "I have (just) achieved" something "I have wanted (until now)"

Is this hypothesis possible/correct?

Please tell me

 

[tedmc]

The achievement comes after the desire/want. I think the past tense sounds more logical than the present perfect.

 

[Dominik92]

Ok.


Is past simple just more logical or would it be the only correct tense (in this case) I should use?


What if I changed the order of the sentence? I admit that the whole sentence would have to be slightly changed but still:

- I have always wanted to win this trophy and therefore I am so happy I have just "achieved" it today.


I would also welcome an opinion of a user of British English as they tend to use present perfect more often than Americans:-D