Simple Past vs. Present Perfect: "was" vs. "has been" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
“Did it close” vs “Has it closed”?
As a English non-native speaker it is difficult for me to understand when I must use present perfect or past simple because in my official language there isn't the present perfect tense.
I know that present perfect is related to something that happened in the past but its result is important now.
But for instance:
- The message has been sent.
- The message was sent.
Please help me point me out any examples/contexts where I should use 1. instead of 2.
Solution 1:
1 means that the action happened just now. You would typically see it in your e-mail program just after you send an e-mail. Your program might give you this message to let you know that the message you just sent has indeed been sent.
2 refers to something that happened at some time in the past. It could have been an hour ago, a day ago, or even a century ago! But it wasn't just now.
Solution 2:
Think of the past tense as referring to an event that took place at a particular time in the past. In saying The message was sent, the speaker will normally have in mind something like yesterday or last week.
The present perfect is called 'present' for a reason. The speaker is talking about the situation now, a situation in which a past event has some bearing on the present. For example, The message has been sent might be followed by a comment such as so it's too late to do anything about it now.
Solution 3:
The Have P.P. is used to talk about new information or more recent things, versus the Past Simple which only talks about the Past.
The message has been sent. vs. The message was sent.
She has gone out. vs. She went out.
It has been towed. vs. It was towed.
A: Please remind Mrs. Jones of our appointment this afternoon.
B: I've sent the message. (The message has been sent.)
A: Where's Susan?
B: She's gone out.
A: Where's my car?
B: It's been towed.
Feeling and imagining what constitutes "a connection/ result now" is the tricky part for learners.
Another good initial practice for you would be to link the Have P.P. together with Adverbs such as "just," "already," and "yet."
Finally, there will be differences between American and British English. But if you keep practicing the Have P.P. in its situations, you will soon get the hang of it.