Question
28 June
- Simplified Chinese (China)
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
What's the difference between these 2 sentences (tenses)?
- Previous students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
- Previous students had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
Thank you! :)
What's the difference between these 2 sentences (tenses)?
- Previous students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
- Previous students had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
Thank you! :)
- Previous students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
- Previous students had nothing but praise for the course content and staff.
Thank you! :)
Answers
28 June
Featured answer
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@VictoriaY
You don’t need to add any qualifying remarks to a statement in present perfect. The sense of ongoing time is the entire point. If you have something else to say you can add it, but it is not required.
Do you really think that people don’t improve if they feel great about what they do? That sounds very harsh. It’s my experience that people tend to do worse if they are made to feel bad.
Highly-rated answerer
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- English (UK)
- English (US)
@VictoriaY
The first one is the present perfect tense – an action from the past is described as still influencing the present
The second is the past simple tense – an action from the past is described. We don’t know whether it’s influence is ongoing.
Highly-rated answerer
- Simplified Chinese (China)
@isthmus_x
Appreciate it!😆😆
I was curious about in what circumstances we use the first one? Like this:?
- Previous students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff, which leads to teachers feeling great about their teaching and not improving.
I'm just not sure the necessity for using the present perfect tense (have had). I think maybe "had" is enough.🤣🤣
Appreciate it!😆😆
I was curious about in what circumstances we use the first one? Like this:?
- Previous students have had nothing but praise for the course content and staff, which leads to teachers feeling great about their teaching and not improving.
I'm just not sure the necessity for using the present perfect tense (have had). I think maybe "had" is enough.🤣🤣
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@VictoriaY
You don’t need to add any qualifying remarks to a statement in present perfect. The sense of ongoing time is the entire point. If you have something else to say you can add it, but it is not required.
Do you really think that people don’t improve if they feel great about what they do? That sounds very harsh. It’s my experience that people tend to do worse if they are made to feel bad.
Highly-rated answerer
- Simplified Chinese (China)
@isthmus_x
I see! Thanks a lot!🥳🥳
I'd like to qualify what I meant🤣: I meant, if people feel great about what they have done, or something, they might not go the extra mile to go beyond and make progress.
Let's say, Tom is quite satisfied with his current English proficiency and he didn't recognize there was a lot of room for improvement. Thus his English might stagnate or get worse over time.
Or, Amy think her appearance is ok, so she might not change her look by haircut, makeup, outfit... Therefore her appearance would not be better.
Maybe I picked inappropriate examples but that's what I meant.🤣🤣I hope What I wrote is clear.🤣
I see! Thanks a lot!🥳🥳
I'd like to qualify what I meant🤣: I meant, if people feel great about what they have done, or something, they might not go the extra mile to go beyond and make progress.
Let's say, Tom is quite satisfied with his current English proficiency and he didn't recognize there was a lot of room for improvement. Thus his English might stagnate or get worse over time.
Or, Amy think her appearance is ok, so she might not change her look by haircut, makeup, outfit... Therefore her appearance would not be better.
Maybe I picked inappropriate examples but that's what I meant.🤣🤣I hope What I wrote is clear.🤣
- English (UK)
- English (US)
@VictoriaY
Of course, I completely understand – I just wanted to stimulate you to defend yourself. I was interested to see how you would argue this point.
And that kind of underlines my point – being prodded to be self critical, and getting useful feedback that stimulates growth – this is one thing. Being made to feel like you are garbage – that is entirely another thing.
I just wanted you to be aware that what you said could be taken as either one of these. If you believe one of these few points and not the other, you need to make your statements more precise, so that is more difficult for people to misunderstand you.
It’s not wrong to make bold statements particularly if you are intelligent and have a lot to say – but you need to be sure that you really are saying what you mean to be saying.
Highly-rated answerer
- Simplified Chinese (China)

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