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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > present perfect or simple past?
present perfect or simple past?
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samahdaba1983**
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present perfect or simple past?
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Hi everyone, I am trying to explain the difference between the simple past and the present perfect to my students , I told them that one difference is in time ( specific or un specific) but a sentence confused me , so could you please help me explaining why we use simple past in this sentence: -Have you ever hurt yourself badly? No , I haven �t luckily. I sprained my ankle once in a basketball match , but nothing more serious than that. ( in this sentence we don �t have a specific time so why we use the past simple not the present perfect ? can we say that both are correct?)
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23 Jan 2013
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florimago
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In my opinion simple past should be used in this sentence . The action (sprain my ankle) is finished without any consequences in the present time . The speaker �s ankle is fine now
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23 Jan 2013
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douglas
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"once" indicates the specific time -- once (on August 12th,2012 for example) |
23 Jan 2013
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yanogator
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As Flori said, it is an action that was completed in the past, so simple past is the correct tense. Douglas is also correct about "once" indicating a specific (but not specified) time. Actually, "in a basketball game" counts as indicating a specific time, also, so you could say "I sprained my ankle in a basketball game."
Bruce |
23 Jan 2013
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samahdaba1983**
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Excuse me , I didn �t understand what you mean by " once indicates a specific ( but not specified ) time. I know that once refers to an unspecific time = at a time in the past.
Another thing I want to know : Does the ocassion make specific? ( in a basketball match) so we say for example : I met him in a party, not I have met him in a party ?
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23 Jan 2013
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