The verb "mean" can refer to two different poles, the sender of a
message and  the interpreter, and  I think the present perfect is
fairly natural for the interpreter, especially when it shades into a
sense of value. (Less message, more existence. We interpret waht we
experience as well.)
   "Your support has meant a great deal to me."
      As John says, this is a past truth continuing into present time.
   Verbs are wonderful. Very tricky, but very rich.

Craig

Hi, Dalia.
>
> These are tricky questions with English verbs, aren't they?
>
> It seems to me that "mean" has at least two distinct uses: 1) to describe
> a
> state of meaning of a word or event; and 2) to describe something that a
> person  intended. Many people would talk about two different verbs here,
> mean1 and
> mean2.
>
> 1.  The word 'bad' means 'good'. (mean1)
>
> 2.  I did not mean to insult him.  (mean2)
>
> So if we put mean2 with the group of action verbs, John's very clear
> explanations hold.  It's mean1 that gives us pause because we see it as
> stative.
>
> When states can be described as having beginning or ending points, we can
> easily understand them in perfect tenses (mean1).  And this might be true
> of
> 'seems' as well.
>
> 3. Jason has always seemed like such a nice kid.
>
> 4. Until recently, Jason has always seemed like such a nice kid.
>
> 5. Jason had always seemed so nice, but this recent crime has given me  a
> different picture of him.
>
> (I'm sure you can come up with better examples.)
> Verbs are fascinating!
>
> Linda
>
>
>
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