LINGUIST List 17.2201

Mon Jul 31 2006

Sum: The Preterit and the Present Perfect

Editor for this issue: Kevin Burrows <kevinlinguistlist.org>

Directory         1.    Takashi Kumagai, The Preterit and the Present Perfect
Message 1: The Preterit and the Present Perfect
Date: 27-Jul-2006
From: Takashi Kumagai <tomiscatclassic.email.ne.jp>
Subject: The Preterit and the Present Perfect


Regarding query : in LINGUIST Issue: Vol-17-1993

Thank you for all the replies to my query regarding The present perfect asthe preterit and the present perfect with past time adverbials.

The results (preliminary stages):

-These are the sentences classified under adverbials with mean. (AE =American English, Total = American English and Others.)-The replies are 28 in AE and 15 in others including 5 in British English. The replies of British English are only 5 which are fewer than I thought. At present I include them in others.-Questionnire constructs 23 questions with ‘Good’, ‘?’, ‘??’, ‘?*’, ‘*’. Itemporarily replace them with numeric. Good=5, ?=4, ??=3, ?*=2, *=1.

Already1. She already finished the work.（AE:4.75 ,Total:4.37）8. Ellen already heard the news. （AE:4.68 ,Total:4.30）14. Rainy wrote the memo already, and it is on your desk. （AE:4.61,Total:4.09）21. Nash was already approached by several pro football teams. （AE:3.89,Total:3.60）

Just2. She just left the office. （AE:4.86 ,Total:4.67）10. He just read all the reports. （AE:4.82 ,Total:4.70）15. The department just mailed out 300,000 notices. （AE:4.93 ,Total:4.77）19. I just went to Tokyo Station to see him off. （AE:4.79 ,Total:4.63）

Recently5. I didn't see much of you recently. （AE:2.36 ,Total:2.23）13. She recently joined the staff of the hotel. （AE:4.86 ,Total:4.74）17. Salmon populations were severely depleted recently. （AE:4.71 ,Total:4.49）23. Oil imports rose recently. （AE:4.96 ,Total:4.67）

Yet4. We didn't yet receive a clear refusal of our offer. （AE:3.79 ,Total:3.51）7. To my knowledge she didn't leave yet. （AE:3.82 ,Total:3.28）11. If you didn't send in your payment yet, please do so immediately. （AE:4.07,Total:3.67）18. The data wasn't yet interpreted. （AE:3.79 ,Total:3.56）

Past time adverbials3. I have seen John yesterday. （AE:1.96 ,Total:1.98）6. Long ago I've given up that idea. （AE:2.18 ,Total:1.95）9. He has left a few minutes ago. （AE:2.18 ,Total:2.14）12. I have seen him ages ago. （AE:1.79 ,Total:1.77）16. That problem has been solved long ago. （AE:2.89 ,Total:2.81）20. I have seen Mary last night. （AE:1.89 ,Total:1.88）22. I've just now received word that they've arrived safely. （AE:4.82,Total:4.72）

*** I can make it available upon query in the form of a primitive excel sheet. Please tell your e-mail address to: excelenglishcafe.jp

And I continue these studies and I need more replies, especially BritishEnglish to compare it with AE. I would appreciate it if new repliers couldpost to my query.

My query : http://www.englishcafe.jp/survey.html

Thanks again,

Takashi Kumagai.Hokkaido University of Education, Hakodate campus. Linguistic Field(s): Syntax