Indranil
I read the book vs I have read the book I am giving two sentences and my concept about these sentences below.Please get me correct If I am wrong. 1. "I read the book." meaning I opened it, read a couple of pages, then closed it and never took it again because I had the complete information and I remembered everything words by word. So can I say that past simple tense has a boundary or it is a bounded event? 2. "I have read the book." meaning the present moment the book has been completed by me and if needed I may read the book again and again until I get the complete information from the book. So can I say that present perfect has no boundaries or it is an unbounded event? Please get me clear.
2016년 12월 17일 오후 3:47
답변 · 4
2
Although I am unsure of the technicalities of the grammar, my native speaker intuitions on the question of 'I read the book' vs 'I have read the book' seem almost to be the opposite of what you are saying. I feel as if 'I have read the book' implies that the book has been completed in the past and is done with. Whereas 'I read the book' could either mean that the book is done with or that you are still reading it. Thus 'I read the book on the plane' 'I read the book yesterday' and 'I read the book for a little while' sound grammatical and can all apply to a book that is still currently being read. Whereas 'I have read the book on the plane' 'I have read the book yesterday' and 'I have read the book for a little while' all sound strange. Thus it appears that 'I read the book' can be more easily modified by aspects of time, manner and place and can be a statement that describes a book that is still being read, whereas 'I have read the book' appears a closed past event. I hope this helps :)
2016년 12월 17일
(following from my previous answer) 2) To express the idea of an action which started in the past and continued up to the moment of speaking, or just before. In this case, you can also use the present perfect continuous, depending on the action.
2016년 12월 17일
If, after reading the book, you have the complete information you need and don't have to open it again, I think you should say: 'I'VE READ the book', because that past action, 'reading', led to your present 'knowing'. You have read it (past) and now you know it (present), as a present consequence of that past action: that 'past' is 'still with you'. On the contrary, if after reading the book you haven't learned the book content or you don't remember it, I think you should say: 'I READ the book', because what you read haven't left a present consequence on your mind, because you don't remember the book content. However, there is also another 'usage' of the present perfect, that is the description of a 'continuous' action, which started in the past and continued until the moment of speaking (or just before). If you consider the action of reading that book in this way, and IF YOU'VE JUST FINISHED TO READ (a few minutes before), you could also say: I'VE BEEN READING, because you could also describe that action as an action you've been doing, that you began in the past and continued until the moment of speaking (or just before). And if you've just read THE WHOLE BOOK, if you have completed the reading of the book, and you consider this second 'usage' of the present perfect, even if you haven't learned it, you could say: 'I'VE READ', because, with this second 'usage', the use of the 'present perfect simple' (I'VE READ) instead of the 'present perfect continuous' (I'VE BEEN READING) gives the idea of HAVING JUST COMPLETED an action (you've read the whole book). With this second kind of usage of the present perfect, it doesn't matter if you have learned the book you've been reading, what matters is that you've completed the action of reading. Just to recap, there are 2 kinds of usage of the present perfect: 1) To express the idea of a past, finished action that has left a present consequence, or that has a present significance, that is in a certain way 'still with us';
2016년 12월 17일
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