Business Grammar Tips Have you … ? or Did you … ?

Business English

Dear Sir or Madame,

„Ich war gestern in Rom“ oder auch „Ich war schon mal in Rom“ – im Deutschen sind das present perfect und das simple past praktisch austauschbar. Nicht so im Englischen. Lesen Sie hier, wann Sie sich für welche Zeit entscheiden müssen.

Do you remember when to use the present perfect and the simple past tense? The rule is that if an action refers to the past and is finished in the past you must use the simple past tense. The present perfect tense says something about a present situation, which has some connection to the past. It covers a span of time. If you hear certain key words like never, ever, yet, already you always use the present perfect.

Here are some examples:

I went to the silicon trade fair in Paris last year. (situation in the past; it’s finished)
My boss has never been to Paris. (not in his life so far = span of time)
I have not finished my report yet (you started in the past but are still at it)

Now you decide which tense is right:

1) We had / have had quite a number of responses to our special Christmas offer.

2) I received / have received a thank you letter from our Chinese guest last week.

3) I applied / have applied for the new job in the sales department a fortnight ago, but I didn’t hear /haven’t heard from them since.

4) We regret to inform you that in spite of two reminders that we sent / have sent, you didn’t settle / have not settled your account.

5) We are happy to see that the new clients already / have already paid for their first orders.

6) My colleague was / has been in Italy last week, but I was never / have never been there.

Best regards

Your

Jean Lennox

Vocabulary box
English	Deutsch
span of time	Zeitspanne
fortnight (BE)	14 Tage
to settle your account	Ihr Konto begleichen

Answers: 1) have had; 2) received; 3) applied, haven’t heard; 4) sent, have not settled; 5) have already paid; 6) was, have never been

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