Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[prem]

Hi everyone,

I have few questions.

1."yesterday,what i did is......."

2."yesterday, what i have done is...."

which one is correct?I always find difficulty with simple past tense and present perfect tense? write to me where to use simple past tense and where to present perfect. hope u help me.

[iitimone7]

today i did... (simple past tense)
today i am doing... (simple present or future tense)

i had done.....yesterday (simple past tense)
yesterday i did... (simple past tense)

i ate a hamburger yesterday for lunch.
i had a hambuger for lunch yesterday.
yesterday i ate a hamburger for lunch.
yesterday i had a hamburger for lunch.

i went to the dentist yesterday and had my teeth cleaned.
yesterday i went to the dentist and had my teeth cleaned.
i went to the dentist and had my teeth cleaned yesterday.

today i have beautiful flowers in my garden.
i have beautiful flowers in my garden today.
yesterday i had beautiful flowers in my garden but today i don't (have).
yesterday i used to have beautiful flowers in my garden, but not today.

...there are so many combinations. it depends on where you want to put the stress in the sentence, who you are talking to, when you are talking about it...these are conditional sentences and they are not always easy or one simple answer. keep trying and don't think about it so hard.

does that help? iitimone7

[prem]

Thanks for ur help

could u pls tell me when to use where.B'coz u said that it depends on the person u r talking to.if iam talking to a friend which one do i have to use and if iam talking to elders which one i have to use.
i mean where to use simple past tense with whom and present perfect tense with whom?

anyways thanks for ur help