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#2 (permalink) Wed Jan 04, 2006 13:20 pm Which one is correct |
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I would choose (a) - Present Perfect - the event has already taken place, and its result is concerned with the present. That is, now we don't have to hurry, since the president has gone...
Just my opinion _________________ Factum non fabula |
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Sidle Jinks I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Aug 2005 Posts: 127 Location: Sevastopol, Ukraine
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#3 (permalink) Wed Jan 04, 2006 13:42 pm Missed |
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Hi danial2005,
Yes, the correct form in this context is (a) the Present Perfect. It has the sense of We have just missed him. Later the speaker could say: We missed him (Past Simple) or We realised we had missed him (Past Perfect).
Alan _________________ English as a Second Language You can read my ESL story Present Simple |
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Alan Co-founder

Joined: 27 Sep 2003 Posts: 13887 Location: UK
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#4 (permalink) Wed Jan 04, 2006 13:48 pm Which one is correct |
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Hi Sidle Jinks and Alan, Thank you very much for your explaination!
Danial |
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Danial2005 I'm new here and I like it ;-)
Joined: 03 Jan 2006 Posts: 17 Location: China
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#5 (permalink) Mon Jan 09, 2006 4:45 am Missed |
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Americans and Canadians will often use "missed" in that kind of quick, excited situation, in colloquial speech. In fact, I think we use the simple past in that kind of immediate situation more than the present perfect.
When we are watching a football game, we might tell someone who has just walked in, "Hey! You missed an exciting goal!"
It violates the rules learned in ESL class, but if we used the present perfect, it would sound just a few minutes too far back in the past to our ears.
But follow the rules in your ESL book and don't argue with your instructor. :D |
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Jamie (K) Guest
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| The fallout of that? | Factual information a tautology? |