I've mentioned before - Is the Past Simple Possible?

[englishhobby]

In the following context:

The first time you meet someone you automatically have an opinion of them. And this is probably something to do with their clothes, their eyes, their smile, or, perhaps, their personality. When you meet someone, you automatically like them, dislike them, or you’re not sure about them. That’s why it’s very important, when you go for a job interview, to consider all the things I’ve mentioned before, especially clothes.

is the Present Perfect Tense the only possible choice (for the phrase in bold)? Could it be substituted by the Past Simple (all the things I mentioned before)? If so, will it change the sense a lot?
Looking forward to your answer at your earliest convenience.;-)

 

[FreeToyInside]

I think "all the things I mentioned before" sounds perfectly fine and the sense is essentially the same. The difference between past simple and present perfect is often quite distinct, and usage of one or the other can completely change a sentence. I keep repeating this sentence in my head though, and the only difference I can think of is tiny.

"All the things I mentioned before" sounds like the speaker stopped mentioning things you need to consider at some point in the past, even if it was a short time ago or a couple pages prior.
The present perfect always ties things in to the present, so here "All the things I've mentioned before" makes it sound more recent, even if only by a small amount of time, like they could have mentioned something you need to consider right before saying that sentence (which it looks like the writer actually did in the paragraph you posted.)

(not a teacher, just a language lover)

 

[5jj]

The first time you meet someone you automatically have an opinion of them. And this is probably something to do with their clothes, their eyes, their smile, or, perhaps, their personality. When you meet someone, you automatically like them, dislike them, or you’re not sure about them. That’s why it’s very important, when you go for a job interview, to consider all the things I’ve mentioned before, especially clothes.

This sounds a little strange to me. I think that by '... the things I have mentioned before', the writer is referring to their clothes, their eyes, their smile, or, perhaps, their personality - in fact, 'clothes' are specifically mentioned. 'Before' generally refers to a time/occasion rather longer than a second/line or so before. It would be more natural to me as '... the things I have just mentioned' or '... the things I (have) mentioned above'.

 

[FreeToyInside]

This sounds a little strange to me. I think that by '... the things I have mentioned before', the writer is referring to their clothes, their eyes, their smile, or, perhaps, their personality - in fact, 'clothes' are specifically mentioned. 'Before' generally refers to a time/occasion rather longer than a second/line or so before. It would be more natural to me as '... the things I have just mentioned' or '... the things I (have) mentioned above'.

I was struggling with the same idea. To say "... all the things I've mentioned before" made me think this was a chapter in a book or one article of a series from a magazine or something like that. It's the inclusion of 'before' that threw me for a loop. The feeling it gives is that the writer has very recently mentioned something you need to consider, but started mentioning things for consideration at some point in a past article or several chapters back in the same book.


(not a teacher, just a language lover)

 

[englishhobby]

Thank you for your very useful posts!

As to "the things I mentioned before / above " - these words belong not to a writer, but to a speaker (I wrote a video script). Will this fact make a difference?

 

[Tdol]

How about the things I mentioned earlier?

 

[englishhobby]

I like it.)))