Cambridge Grammar of English Hardback with cd-rom a comprehensive Guide

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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

Past time | 615

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Now-relevance 351c

A basic use of the present perfect is when the speaker considers an event to be still

important or relevant in some way to the moment of speaking:

Well, we were here in the house, and the neighbour came in and said, ‘There’s

something going on up the street. I think someone 

has stabbed someone.’

(a newsworthy event that is very important to the speaker)

A: I don’t remember seeing any cigarette adverts on TV, do you? Have they been

banned?

B: Yeah. They were banned, oh, years and years ago. 

(a possible explanation for the speaker’s present understanding)

It’s too dangerous to touch. I think somebody 

has been tampering with it.

(the effects of someone interfering with it are visible now)

The present perfect indicates that the speaker chooses to mark the event as

important/relevant to now, or may wish to stress that the event happened very

recently. Compare:

That’s probably why I’m so tired, because I’

ve been chattering to people I don’t

really know.

That’s probably why I’m so tired, because I 

was chattering to people I don’t

really know.

The difference here may be an emphasis on how recently the chattering took place,

but both versions may also refer to the same event, with no difference in time

reference.