[Grammar] a question about present perfect tense

[Heidi]

Dear teachers,

Would you please tell me what is wrong with the following sentence and how I should correct it?

"I hvae bought a pen and I have lost it now."

Thanks!

 

[Barb_D]

I have bought a pen -- that relates to the present. You've recently bought a pen, and you have it.

If you have since lost it, then your first part needs to be past perfect. You bought it before you lost it.

You could possibly use simple past for the first part, but in this case, I'd prefer the past.

 

[Heidi]

I have bought a pen -- that relates to the present. You've recently bought a pen, and you have it.

If you have since lost it, then your first part needs to be past perfect. You bought it before you lost it.

You could possibly use simple past for the first part, but in this case, I'd prefer the past.

Dear Barb_D,

Thank you for your explanation.

I have two more questions about this sentence: "I had bought a pen and I have lost it now.
#1 Is it better to replace 'and' with 'but'?
#2 Is it usual to use 'now' with the present perfect? Is it better to just leave it out?

 

[francis 7]

..."I had bought a pen and I have lost it now"...

If you use "had bought" you should use simple past in the next part. (past perfect is the past of the past ;-)) "Had bought" is the past of something. It would be better this way: " I had bought a pen but I lost it"