Question
9 Nov 2020
- Japanese
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
When I asked a native speaker about the present perfect, he told me that
"I've seen the movie" conveys the nuance that he can remember ther content and talk about it.
However "I saw the movie" conveys the nuance he remember he saw it but he can't recall the content.
What do you think of this?
When I asked a native speaker about the present perfect, he told me that
"I've seen the movie" conveys the nuance that he can remember ther content and talk about it.
However "I saw the movie" conveys the nuance he remember he saw it but he can't recall the content.
What do you think of this?
"I've seen the movie" conveys the nuance that he can remember ther content and talk about it.
However "I saw the movie" conveys the nuance he remember he saw it but he can't recall the content.
What do you think of this?
Answers
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- English (UK)
- English (US)
I don't agree at all. You can say "I've seen the movie but I don't remember what it was about" just as easily and naturally as you can say "I saw the movie but I don't remember what it was about". If anything, "I've seen the movie" is usually talking about a point further in the past and so it's more likely that you don't remember the content, but this is unrelated to the actual tenses.
To me, "I've seen the movie" simply means that at some point you watched the movie and it happened at least once. You might not remember exactly when, it might have been multiple times, but the event happened at least once in the past. "I saw the movie" means that at one specific point in the past, you watched the movie. Normally you'd give a specific point in time when using simple past, but generally it's only one occasion that you're talking about.
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
- Simplified Chinese (China) Near fluent
@15836dtuz
Not really.
"I've seen the movie" is the answer to a question: "have you seen the movie?"
"I saw the movie" is used when talking about it in a more general sense.
It's very difficult to explain the nuance of these two phrases and their difference, but recollection of content is not it.
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
@askingsaint Why do you think news is always nalated in the present perfect?
like "Trump has told people he has no plans to~"
My assumption is the present perfect indicates that after the content of the sentence there is no change in the situation. it conveyes the feeling that it's the latest.
What do you think of this?
like "Trump has told people he has no plans to~"
My assumption is the present perfect indicates that after the content of the sentence there is no change in the situation. it conveyes the feeling that it's the latest.
What do you think of this?
- English (US)
- Simplified Chinese (China) Near fluent
@askingsaint
I think it's important to keep in mind that "I saw the movie thrice" and "I've seen the movie thrice" both make perfect sense, so "I saw" isn't always about one occasion.
And yet, "I've seen the movie before" and "I saw the movie before ___?" convey entirely different things.
Nor can you say "I've seen the movie on (date)" but you say "I saw the movie on (date)"
English is a weird language.
Highly-rated answerer
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@ayzg good point! When I said "one occasion" that was poor wording on my part, I meant more along the lines of a specific point in time because, "I saw the movie three times last year" is fine but "*I have seen the movie three times last year" isn't great because "last year" is a specific time phrase. Maybe this is still a bad explanation haha but you're completely right, it isn't necessarily only one occasion.
@15836dtuz I think reporters often use the present perfect to indicate that the content of what they're saying is in the recent past and relates to the present, or that it's possibly an ongoing situation. I think it's a stylistic thing rather than being specifically used to indicate that there is going to be no change to the situation, because I at least wouldn't feel like "Trump told people he has no plans to..." is less final. See: https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/693...
I hope that helps!
Highly-rated answerer
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