Summary: This post is about how to talk about things in the past. To your surprise, you will learn that there are (at least) two types of past in English. Yes, you are right, two. In a way, this post helps you understand the differences between the present perfect simple (PPS) and the simple past, but not in terms of boring grammar, but with a love story.
How do your boss talk to you? Finish it’ or ‘Finish it by 6:00pm’. Which one do you prefer? None of them. But which one is clear? And which one is unclear? The second one (with a time) is clearer, right? So what is my point? My point is the same applies when you talk about ‘past’ in English.
There are two types of past: past that is clear and past that is unclear.
An Unclear Past: How unclear is it?
Sorry that you have to meet your boss again. At a meeting, your boss may say something like this: ‘JMB, our main competitor, has changed its selling strategy.’ (The short form of ‘has changed’ is ‘The company’s changed it selling strategy.)
Based on your boss’s words, do you know when ABC changed its strategy? Or in which year? Which month? Which date? Not sure, right? But one thing you are pretty sure of is that: It is in the past.
This is what an unclear past is about. That is, somehow you know something has happened but you know nothing about the exact year, month, week, or date. Other examples from your boss may include:
Our profits have dropped (by 20%). (short form: ’ve dropped)
The government has raised the rates of business tax. (short form: ’s raised)
The tense used (have dropped, has raised) has a long name, the present perfect simple (PPS). The tense is made up of by two elements:
1. has / have ( ’s / ‘ve) +
2. changed / dropped / raised
Well, one question may pop up? Why does your boss use present perfect simple (PPS)? To know why your boss uses PPS, you will be told a story, a romantic one.
An Unclear Past, the Present: A Love Story
It was 9:59 in the morning, and Mr UP (Unclear Past) was sweating. He was late for a meeting, a very important meeting, a meeting that was going to change his life. He rushed into a building, hoping that the lift doors were open for him. Yes, he was right. When he arrived at the ground floor, the lift was there, and when the doors opened, he saw a woman. What is her name? Ms. Now.
It was love at first sight. And ‘then’ they had a son. So soon? By the way, what is his name? Present Perfect Simple.
So what is my point? Present Perfect Simple (the son) is a tense that links up an unclear past (Mr. UP) and the present (Ms. Now). If you want a better picture of what I meant, read the Feel Good Tip:
Unclear Past (Man) + Present (Woman) = Present Perfect Simple (Son)
What does this have to do with English?
You may go back to what your boss has told you (the first sample sentence): ABC, our main competitor, has changed its selling strategy.
There is an unclear past in the sentence. What do I mean? I mean the change has happened, right? But when? What you know is it was something in the past, but an unclear one.
What about the present? You can’t see it, can you? No you can’t. The present is invisible (you can’t see it with your eyes). It is because when your boss says something like this, it means you have to do something about it, about the change of strategy. Whenshould you do it? Most probably: now (the present).
In other words, your boss told you about something in the past by using the Present Perfect Simple. And it is you who has to do something about it. That is, an action in the unclear past makes you do something now (or in the near future).
Put yourself in your boss’s shoes, your boss wants you to do something by using PPS. Well, I guess you will start to hate PPS.
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