It seems that Wood in saying "past time" left out some important components Sometimes it is said that there must be some present relevance. The first example allows this interpretation in two senses: He has worked in [non-idomatic, should be "for" since a "company" is conceived of as a corporate body, rather than a group of individuals] that company IN THE PAST. This may mean that he still works for the company, or more likely, there was some period of time in the past when he worked [simple past] for the company and he no longer works there. The adverb "in the past" is indefinite. If it were "in June" or "in 1985", etc., the simple past tense would be used, provided there is no present relevance. This is what Wood also left out; this distinction between definite and indefinite reference to past time. All of the rest of your examples have definite reference to a period of time, yet the predicate has present relevance, i.e., we can easily add some such phrase as "and this is still true".
We may say "I have seen him. It was yesterday." This is one way to connect the adverb with definite reference to time. "It" refers to the time of the occurrence, but does not interfere with the present relevance of the first sentence, which may have been uttered in response to "Has anyone seen Joe?" (I'm looking for him.) "I saw him yesterday." could also be a correct response, but implies that I am not intending it to give you much of an answer as it is not really relevant to the present moment.
I hope this will help you with finding ("righteous") or at least more useful rules.
Bruce D. Despain
>>> [log in to unmask] 05/01/01 03:32AM >>>
Subject: Why "I have seen him yesterday" is wrong?
Dear Sir/Madam,
What is the mistake in the sentence: "I have seen him yesterday"?
We have always been accepting the simplified answer: Because there is a past
time adverb said in the sentence, we have to use the Simple Past: "I saw him
yesterday".
For a concrete source, Current English Usage, by F.T.Wood, is noted for its
aim at correcting students' errors in English usage. In explaining the
Present Perfect, the book emphasizes a helping rule: "IT [the Present
Perfect tense] MUST NOT BE ACCOMPANIED BY ANY ADVERB OR ADVERBIAL EXPRESSION
WHICH DENOTES PAST TIME. We cannot say 'I have seen him last Wednesday'."
(Here the grammar itself chose to use capital letters to emphasize the
formula.) In fact, this is the most reliable guidance in the usage of
English tense. Scarcely will a grammar book do without it.
Because of this thumb rule, however, all grammar books have to avoid to talk
about the past time adverbs for the Present Perfect tense, such as: in the
past, in the past year, during past year, in the past xxx years, over the
past xxx weeks, during the past few days, for the past two months, etc. And
yet, their examples are frequently found in all kinds of readings and very
probably you may have to use frequently too:
Ex: He has worked in that company IN THE PAST.
Ex: Frequency graph shows how often each number has hit IN THE PAST YEAR.
Ex: There have been great improvements in school teaching IN THE PAST TEN
YEARS.
Ex: As a result, the number of multiple births in the U.S. has more than
quadrupled DURING THE PAST QUARTER-CENTURY.
Ex: At least IN THE PAST FEW YEARS exitways from central Paris have been
greatly improved.
Ex: This function has greatly increased in importance OVER THE PAST HUNDRED
YEARS.
Unknown to ordinary students and teachers, this is the most tricky problem
lurked in present-day explanation of English tenses. If our grammars still
keep avoiding this problem, there will be no righteous rules about tenses at
all.
What is your opinion? How to explain the Present Perfect tense staying with
past time adverbs?
Your help is appreciated.
Shun Tang
www.englishtense.com
======================
P.S. If you could provide any help or opinion, please go and visit the
following forum:
http://www.englishtense.com/forum.asp
and locate the recent thread titled: Why "I have seen him yesterday" is
wrong?
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