Ask the English Teacher

Simply perfect and perfectly simple!

Amer asks another good question:
For me as a German it is often difficult to distinguish between the simple past, the present perfect and the past perfect. Could you please give me some advice?

We use the simple past tense about an action or situation that began and ended sometime in the past:

I lived in California in the 1950s. (But I don't live there now.)
We bought a new car last spring. (The deal is complete.)
She kissed him. (Whenever it happened, she's not kissing him right now.)

Sometimes we use the simple past tense twice in one sentence: In a subordinate clause starting with "when," and in an independent clause. We assume that the action in the subordinate clause happened first:

When I got the news, I cheered. (First: the news. Second: the cheer.)
I cheered when I got the news. (Same thing.)
When the thunder rumbled, he hurried home. (First: thunder. Second: hurry.)
He hurried home when the thunder rumbled. (Same thing.)

The present perfect describes something that happened (or never happened) in the past, at an unspecified time:

I have moved from California to Canada.
We have paid all our bills.
I have never visited Germany.
They had never been robbed.

We also use the present perfect to express a repeated activity (or something never repeated) both in the past and the present:

She has performed at many concerts. (And she is still performing.)
We have made many friends in Vancouver. (And we are still making friends in Vancouver.)
We have never known a more talented artist. (And we are still looking for more-talented artists, but we can't find any.)

We can also use the present perfect, with for or since, to describe something that started in the past and continues into the present:

They have been waiting here for over an hour.
She has played the violin since she was six years old.
I have taught English since 1967.
I have taught English for 41 years.

The past perfect describes something that happened in the past—before something else in the past:

I had graduated from college when I moved to Canada. (First: I graduated. Second: I moved to Canada.)
They had already left when we arrived. (First: They left. Second: We arrived.)

Here is where past perfect can be confusing: If you use before or after, the time relationship is clear. So you can use the past perfect or the simple past. For example:

I had graduated from college before I moved to Canada.
I graduated from college before I moved to Canada.
She had phoned us after we had left.
She phoned us after we left.
They had left before we arrived.
They left before we arrived.

Both versions are correct.

One common error for English learners is to use "since" with the simple past:

I lived in England since 2005.
She worked for an advertising agency since January.

Just remember that if you want to use a "start time," you need to use present perfect:
I have lived in England since 2005.
She has worked for an advertising agency since January.

Sentence endings

Amer asks two interesting questions:

1. I am not sure about the following sentences:

i) They have once again won
ii) They have won once again

Which one is correct?

Actually, both are correct. But here is an odd fact about English. We tend to pay the most attention to the beginning and end of a sentence, and the beginning and end of a paragraph. I call these the "hot spots" of sentences and paragraphs. We read the words in between, but they don't have as much impact.

This is why a "bad news" business letter usually puts the bad news in the middle of a paragraph, with some neutral information at the beginning and end. The bad news doesn't hurt as much.

So in the sentences you ask about, it depends on what you want to emphasize: If it's "won," then leave it at the end. If you want to emphasize that they have won "once again," put that at the end.

2. Can you end a sentence with a preposition?

Yes. We end sentences with prepositions all the time, in both speech and writing.

Once an editor corrected something that Winston Churchill had written, saying that Churchill should not end a sentence with a preposition. Churchill wrote back: "This is the kind of hairsplitting up with which I will not put." He didn't end the sentence with a preposition, but it sounded silly.