Is the present perfect being shown the door?

[metal56]

I've just seen a very funny video in which the boy says "Oh my gaad, she broke it" rather than "she's broken it".

He's American. So that proves it.

Proof enough.

[emile]

My two cents...

It seems like Americans are tending towards the simple past more and more. HOWEVER, there is also a strong tendency for British English to be influenced more and more by American English. So directly or indirectly, it is on its way out in both dialects of English.

<sob> I'll mis it so...






www.roadtogrammar.com

[metal56]

My two cents...

It seems like Americans are tending towards the simple past more and more. HOWEVER, there is also a strong tendency for British English to be influenced more and more by American English. So directly or indirectly, it is on its way out in both dialects of English.

<sob> I'll mis it so...

I'll fight tooth and nail to keep it. Much AE use cuts down our chance to express nuance. Enough is enough! Fight the good fight, etc!

[Machjo]

Personally, I like the perfect (even though it can be hard to catch, to get etc, for learners especially), and if it can actually help make meanings that bit clearer, allow such nuances, then why dispense with it?

Anuradha says that the nuances are too difficult for NNES and so the present perfect should be omitted from beginner and intermediate levels and maybe should be dropped from English altogether. She feels that the preterite is now dominant. I'm not sure.

That leads to another question: To what extent must English be modified for the benefit of the non-native speaker?

I'm not saying I have an answer, but one could argue that the non-native has the choice of either learning it or not, not reform it any more than a learner of Arabic or Persian would come along and suggest simplifications to them.

[Lotus]

Over time, the present perfect has increased in use over the preterite in German, French and some other languages to a position where it now clearly dominates. In English too, the present perfect increased in use over the preterite from the days of Old English, through Middle English and up to the beginning of the Modern English period. But what about today? Which form dominates in English? Some would say that the present perfect is on the wane or even redundant in contemporary English. Would you agree with those people?

Absolutely not. As an American, I take my stand to defend the use of the present perfect and teach my students how to use it properly. That means that the perfect is not always the first choice when a simple past will suffice. Which tense one uses usually depends on all the other elements of context, together with the grammartical considerations. When a perfect is the better choice, then that is the tense that should be used. I object much more the proliferation of inane adverbs than I do to a judicious use of perfect tenses.

While I'm objecting, I find myself in strong opposition to the suggestion that ...the nuances are too difficult for NNES and so the present perfect should be omitted from beginner and intermediate levels and maybe should be dropped from English altogether. Modifying how we teach elementary levels is totally justified and reasonable. However, throwing out bits of grammar that we find difficult is not an option. I might just as well suggest that the Chinese get rid of all their tones in order to make it easier for a Westerner to learn their language. It's patently absurd!