I have/did, mom.

[EngLearner]

John's mother is watching TV in the living room. John goes to the kitchen. She remembers that she forgot to water the flowers while she was in the kitchen, so the following dialog takes place between them:

John's mother: "John, can you please water the flowers?"
John (after watering the flowers): "I have/did, mom."
John's mother: "Thank you."

Which option should be used in this case? If either can be used, what's the nuance?

 

[jutfrank]

Do you mean John watered the flowers before or after being asked?

 

[EngLearner]

Do you mean John watered the flowers before or after being asked?

He watered them after his mother asked him to.

 

[jutfrank]

In that case, the way you've written the context doesn't make sense.

"I have/did, mom."

With an ellipted verb phrase, how does the mother know what John is referring to? I think you probably mean this:

I've watered the flowers, Mum.

 

[EngLearner]

"I have/did, mom."

With an ellipted verb phrase, how does the mother know what John is referring to? I think you probably mean this:

I've watered the flowers, Mum.

Yes, that's what I mean. But I don't understand why you find the ellipted phrase problematic in this context. She knows that he's referring to watering the flowers. What else would he be referring to after being asked to water them?

 

[Skrej]

Yes, that's what I mean. But I don't understand why you find the ellipted phrase problematic in this context.

Unless she's standing there with arms crossed, waiting on him to water the flowers, do you really think she's going to recall what he's referring to several minutes after the fact?!

She knows that he's referring to watering the flowers.

Exactly how does she know that?

What else would he be referring to after being asked to water them?

Any of a million possible actions. In your scenario, if John says "I did mom", Mom's next response is going to be "You did what?"

It's clear in your mind perhaps because you're constructing an artificial situation with no time lapsed between the request and the action.

In real life, several minutes at a minimum are going to pass before he waters them, during which time Mom's presumably doing other things that will be front and foremost in her mind, not the request to water the flowers, unless again she's just standing there waiting for him to do it.

"I did" might work if she was asking a question about whether or not he had already watered the flowers.

 

[EngLearner]

Do you mean John watered the flowers before or after being asked?

If John had already watered the flowers before his mother asked him to, then in response to her request he would still say: "I've watered them, mom." (using the present perfect), not "I watered them, mom.", right?

 

[jutfrank]

If John had already watered the flowers before his mother asked him to, then in response to her request he would still say: "I've watered them, mom." (using the present perfect), not "I watered them, mom.", right?

Yes. Also, this would be an ideal context for the adverbial 'already', which as you probably know is highly collocational with the present perfect. Here's what John might say:

I've already watered them.
I've already done it.
I already have.