wasn't/ hasn't been

[dewedfrost]

Hello! I need some help, please! Let's have a look at the following:
"Jake hasn't been/ wasn't at school this morning and it's nearly lunchtime. Do you know where he is?
"Yes, he 's in America with his family"
(from a grammar exercise in which I have to choose between past simple and past perfect; no further context given)
I'd say "hasn't been" because, according to the grammar rule (British English), as there is the time expression "this morning", I should use the present perfect.
Do you agree?
As a matter of fact, I suppose that the morning is still on at lunchtime, but I've got some doubts about that!!! If the sentence sounded something like "He wasn't at school this morning and now it's 3 p.m. in the afternoon, there would be no difficulties in choosing the right verb tense (obvioulsy, past simple); so I could say that even "wasn't" is acceptable!
thanks a lot for your support!

 

[Raymott]

I'd also use "hasn't been", but for a different reason. It is probably still morning, because it isn't lunchtime yet. This is a subtle point, because we don't know when lunch starts, therefore we don't know whether Jake could still arrive "this morning", and this is what the usage depends on - as you say.
I'd call it a bad question - almost willfully insincere, unless I'm missing something. (Though they say not to attribute to malice what could be due to simple ignorance or stupidity).

 

[Tdol]

(from a grammar exercise in which I have to choose between past simple and past perfect; no further context given)
I'd say "hasn't been" because, according to the grammar rule (British English), as there is the time expression "this morning", I should use the present perfect.
Do you agree?

I don't think it's a very good question- it doesn't clearly illustrate a grammar point IMO, which is is meant to here.