neha338 wrote:
Mike,
I agree with your explanation. But think for a while, as present perfect talks about effect of some past action in present.
SUPPOSE -- the sentences below
Magoosh and I met for two hours.
Now if want to express this meeting (
Magoosh and I) looking at it from present point. Then could I say
Magoosh and I have met for two hour ( perfect form).
Now our focus is by now I have met
Magoosh for two hours. It does not say that the two hours are just two hours from now. it would be two hours by now.
China has been a poor country only for 10 years before open door policy adopted.
This above sentence also say by now china has had only 10 years of poverty. Sentence clearly says by now and not ten years before from now.
I think this time I have detailed my doubt. And you must have gotten my point.
Neha
Neha,
First of all, I don't think we are disagreeing on anything meaningful. I think you may be confused by some of the idioms I used. I also think, as I have said before, you should not make up example sentences. You should be reading, and finding sentence in context. The sentences you create contain problems, beyond what you are trying to address.
Magoosh is an online company, so it doesn't make sense for anyone to "meet"
Magoosh. Also, I sincerely hope no one from China is offended by your sentence about them.
If I use the simple past . . .
I worked at ABC company for five years.then the implication is that the start-date and the end-date were both in the past and were five years apart. It could mean I worked at ABC from 1994 - 1999 or 2002 - 2007, etc. This sentence leaves unanswered the questions of exactly when I worked there: the reader knows for how long, but doesn't know when.
If I use the present perfect . . .
I have worked at ABC company for five years.This is a much more specific sentence. This means the "five year" period started five years ago and continues to the present moment.
In other words, a five-year period that started in 2010, and continues right now in 2015.
In other words, five years by now.
In other words, the time from five years ago to now.
In other words, the last five years.
All of those are different ways to state the same thing. Use of the present perfect implies a clear start-date and implies that the situation continues into the present moment.
In your second example sentence about China, in addition to saying things that might offend the Chinese, you also made a huge grammatical mistake regarding verb tense. When we compared one time span to another PAST event, we need the
past perfect tense.
I had worked at ABC for five years by the time I bought my car.That sentence says that, whatever the date of buying the car was, that the period of working at ABC had started five years earlier.
Say the car was bought in 2008. Then, I would have started working at ABC in 2003, and would still be working then when I bought my car in 2008.
That same example sentence about China was also missing an auxiliary verb in the passive construction, as well as quote marks and a necessary article:
...before open door policy adopted....before the "open door" policy was adoptedI am sorry to say this, but every example sentence you create to address one question creates several more questions. My friend, you need to read and find example sentences. You can even search the CR and RC questions in
the Official Guide, looking for uses of the perfect tense. Ask questions about sentences you find in well-written sources. To some extent, this means you need to surrender something of your agenda, at least for the moment. You don't have enough command of English to say, "I want to know this detail right now." You have to allow yourself to learn, holistically, all the things you still need to learn, even though that may mean you have to put individual burning questions on the back burner for a time. It's very important to understand all the ways that the sentences you create do not sound like the sentences of native speakers. It's very important to pay attention to all the details of well-written sentences. I believe you will learn more deeply and more widely when you let go of such specific agendas.
Does all this make sense?
Mike
_________________
Mike McGarry
Magoosh Test PrepEducation is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire. — William Butler Yeats (1865 – 1939)