[General] Using Present Perfect With 'Just' and 'Recently' and anchors

[cat2jackson]

Hi Everyone!

I've got a question on using Present Perfect with 'Recently' and 'Just' and time anchors.

So far as I understand, when it comes to Present Perfect, the verb form is anchored in NOW, the moment of speaking. It looks back over some period of time to a VAGUE beginning..

For instance, (1) He has arrived (his arrival is here, at the moment of speaking, he arrived (at vague point in time)------>Now)

(2) He has always loved her (he started loving her at some vague point in time in the past, and he still loves here, so the 'loved' verb is anchored in the present).

However, as regards specific points of time in the past, it's impossible to use Present Perfect in the following situations:

(1) He has arrived in London yesterday
(2) He has written a poem one minute before etc..

For here we have much heavier anchors that anchor the verbs (arrived) and (written) in the past....

Now I've approached the difficulty in the natural understanding at the level of sensations of the following two situations where Present Perfect could be used:

(1) He has just arrived
(2) He has recently written his dissertation

I do know that those sentences are grammatically correct, and Present Perfect could be perfectly used here, but... why are 'just' and 'recently' not anchors? Why don't they anchor the verbs in the past? Just because of the fact that there is no specific point in time?

When using Present Perfect to convey different ideas, I've always tended to think that the verb is anchored in the present, and there is something that is still ongoing (still active, or there is a sort of effect still noticeable, like a 'ball of energy' that emerged at some indefinite point of time in the past and is here now, so it's primarily present time, not the past)...

But what about those 'just' and 'recently' forms?

Thanks!

Best Wishes,
Dmitry.

 

[Tdol]

It doesn't necessarily have to be ongoing, but it has some relevance to now- when we say that someone has just arrived, their arrival has finished, but the impact of their arrival hasn't.

If I ring you from the airport and tell you that our friend has just arrived, I could, for instance, be letting you know that you will be ready when we arrive at your house for dinner in an hour.