[Grammar] When I got home, I realised that my dad left an hour earlier.

[juseruser]

Hello,

1. When I got home, I realised that my dad left an hour earlier.

2. When I got home, I realised that my dad had left an hour earlier.

Is there any difference in meaning between these two sentences?

I've once asked very similar question but now I've changed one word and I was wondering if it changes anything more.

Thank you

 

[jutfrank]

There's no sense in asking whether there's a difference in meaning. You obviously know the meaning.

The fact is that 2. is by far the better way to say it. 1. just sounds wrong.

 

[GoesStation]

Write I once asked a very similar question.

 

[juseruser]

Write I once asked a very similar question.

Thanks. Can you please explain, why you think I shouldn't use the present perfect tense in this sentence?

 

[Rover_KE]

Can you please explain[no comma here]why you think I shouldn't use the present perfect tense in this sentence?

The simple past is correct because it states a simple fact about an action you performed in the past.

 

[juseruser]

Write I once asked a very similar question.

Thank you. Would it be possible to explain why it is NOT correct to use the present perfect tense in my sentence? Aren't both sentences possible?

 

[GoesStation]

Hello,

1. When I got home, I realised that my dad left an hour earlier.

2. When I got home, I realised that my dad had left an hour earlier.

Is there any difference in meaning between these two sentences?

I've once asked very similar question but now I've changed one word and I was wondering if it changes anything more.

Write I once asked a very similar question.

Thank you. Would it be possible to explain why it is NOT correct to use the present perfect tense in my sentence? Aren't both sentences possible?

I appreciate your confusion; in fact, I thought about your question before you asked it, wondering how I could explain why I've once asked is not possible but I've often asked is. I'm afraid I still haven't found the answer. Hopefully one of our teachers or grammarians will.

 

[teechar]

why I've once asked is not possible

It refers to a discrete event in the past, so there's no need for the present perfect.

but I've often asked is.

That involves an indefinite-time adverb (often), so we use the present perfect to imply that I asked in the past and I still ask sometimes.

cf.
I often thought about that. [I don't think about that these days.]
I've often thought about that. [I thought about that in the past, and I still think about it sometimes.]

 

[juseruser]

It refers to a discrete event in the past, so there's no need for the present perfect.

On this page "http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html" it can be read that "We CAN use the Present Perfect with unspecific expressions such as: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc."


What about sentences like:
1) I've asked this question once.
2) I've asked this question before.
3) I've asked this question once before.
4) I've once asked this question and now I'm asking again.

 

[tedmc]

Posts No.2 and No.5 seem to contradict each other. No. 2 says the simple past tense is wrong while No. 5 says it is OK.
My understanding is that you do not need to use the past perfect tense if there is no doubt about the sequence of events.

 

[GoesStation]

What about sentences like:
1) I've asked this question once.
2) I've asked this question before.
3) I've asked this question once before.
4) I've once asked this question and now I'm asking again.

I considered similar sentences before I gave up on discovering why the present perfect doesn't work in the original sentence. Somehow, moving the adverb to the end makes it okay in sentences 1 through 3. I don't like it in sentence 4.

 

[jutfrank]

Posts No.2 and No.5 seem to contradict each other. No. 2 says the simple past tense is wrong while No. 5 says it is OK.

They do not contradict each other. The two posts are referring to different sentences. The focus of this thread is now I once asked a similar question. Post #8 states clearly the reasons for using past simple in this sentence, i.e. it refers to a specific occasion (or a "discrete event") in the past.

On this page "http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html" it can be read that "We CAN use the Present Perfect with unspecific expressions such as: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc."

Yes, correct. Very much so.

There may be some confusion here of two different uses of the word once.

• I've asked this question once before.

The use here is to say how many times. You might also say twice before, or many times before. The present perfect is very commonly used to say how many times something has happened within a timeframe.

• I once asked a similar question.
  

The use here is to simply say at a certain time in the past. It is not focused on how many times, but simply on the fact that there was a past event.

 

[teechar]

I agree and view the present perfect version as focusing on the aspect of (life) experience.

For example,

I once slept on the floor, and I hated it. [discrete past event]

I've slept on the floor once or twice before. [life experience]

 

[jutfrank]

I agree and view the present perfect version as focusing on the aspect of (life) experience.

Exactly right. A person's life is very often (but of course not always!) a timeframe within which events are framed. It makes good sense to call this use 'life experience'.

 

[Rover_KE]

Also asked and answered here.

juseruser,

We recommend posting a question on one forum only initially. If you do not get a satisfactory answer from that forum and you feel that you have exhausted its possibilities, then of course trying a different forum might help. It is only courteous however, to tell the second forum that you have already asked the question on another forum and then give a precis of the answers you received there, along with an explanation of why you are now looking elsewhere.​

(emsr2d2)​

 

[juseruser]

OK. Thanks for a suggestion. I'll inform about this next time.