had or have

[gonghai]

1)I had recently graduated from (school name).

or 2) I have recently graduated from (school name)

I think the first one is correct but i have heard ppl use the second example. and i am not sure if the second one is correct

if it is correct in what situation would you use the second example.

the one i use offten is recently i graduated from (school name)

 

[Francois]

They're both correct, but the first one would need some context eg. I had recently graduated from xxx when I decided I wanted to be a professional guitarist.
The 2nd one is fine. The present perfect indicates that in this sentence you don't describe this event (your graduating) as a finished, fixed point in the past, but you view it as something that has a strong link with the present.
The past perfect follow the same logic, but is linked with some point in the past rather than the present eg. in the above example, the phrase 'when I decided' fixes the date the past perfect refers to. That's why you need some context, otherwise the past perfect 'dangles' in the past.
Of course you can also say "I graduated from xxx in 1998". With "recently", the past perfect is more natural though, b/c it implies some link with the present. But then, you can say "Until recently, he played the guitar for a living".

FRC

 

[gonghai]

They're both correct, but the first one would need some context eg. I had recently graduated from xxx when I decided I wanted to be a professional guitarist.
The 2nd one is fine. The present perfect indicates that in this sentence you don't describe this event (your graduating) as a finished, fixed point in the past, but you view it as something that has a strong link with the present.
The past perfect follow the same logic, but is linked with some point in the past rather than the present eg. in the above example, the phrase 'when I decided' fixes the date the past perfect refers to. That's why you need some context, otherwise the past perfect 'dangles' in the past.
Of course you can also say "I graduated from xxx in 1998". With "recently", the past perfect is more natural though, b/c it implies some link with the present. But then, you can say "Until recently, he played the guitar for a living".

FRC

oh ic thanks francois for clearing things up