The Present Perfect and the Simple Perfect in journalism parts 1 and 2
The Present Perfect and the Simple Perfect in journalism parts 1 and 2
In news stories you often see two different uses of past tense verbs, the present perfect and the simple perfect.
If the time span covered is set as time that comes up until now the verb tense is the past perfect. Watch out for phrases such as within the last year / for the past three months / this is the first time …. / since the introduction of ……
that show the time span continues up until now. The present perfect reinforces the fact that this news has only just appeared or been confirmed. It could be a report by a journalist or a press release from researchers on the point of publishing their results.
Drinking green tea improves blood flow, helping to keep the heart healthy, research has proved. The drink is known to have anti-cancer properties and has now been shown to have an almost immediate effect on heart health too, thanks to antioxidant flavonoids. It is drunk less frequently than black tea in the West, but is popular in China.
Football – the latest:
Cologne have turned down an offer of about £2.8 million from Ipswich Town for Milivoje Novakovič. Last season the Slovenian striker, 29, was among Germany’s top scorers with over 30 goals.
"Ipswich have made us a written offer that was not bad, but we will not sell Novakovič," Michael Meier, the Cologne sporting director, confirmed.
Ukraine international Andriy Shevchenko has completed his move to AC Milan from Chelsea after passing a medical. The 31-year-old has completed two seasons in west London since signing from Milan for about £30m in 2006.
If you have time phrases such as last week / two weeks ago the time is separated from any sense of nowand is considered over, and finished. The verb tense here is the simple past.
Watch out for phrases that show the time span ended before now:
in the early months of the year / shortly after the war / during the reign of ….. / for three months
Now see the difference when an event is reported after it has taken place, well separated from any connection with now. Notice also the simple past passives in the first two lines:
A charming private collection of some 100 perfume bottles, most of which were made pre-1900, was sold at auction in June. The first modern perfume (of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution) was created in 1370 at the request of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. It was France, however, that became established as the Western centre of perfume design and trade, and where the cultivation of flowers for perfume essence developed into a major industry. As the demand for luxury goods grew in the 19th century, the making, bottling, packaging and marketing of perfume underwent a profound change, and the design of boxes and containers became more elaborate and decorative.