Timeline for Present perfect or past simple with since
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
5 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Apr 26, 2016 at 20:47 | comment | added | user24743 | @Catija What makes you think my example doesn't say "since"? I clearly stated "Since I was 20 years old, I have never dated a girl." Using "and" and "but" doesn't really depend on grammar. It is just a personal style and preference and there is no rule on this. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 20:15 | comment | added | Catija | But your example doesn't say "since"... your example just says "I have never dated". Yes, you have since earlier in the sentence but it's not commutable in that way... plus, if you really want to use never, it works better if you use "but" instead of "and"... I drank a lot before I was 30 but I have never drunk since then. I honestly still have a difficult time including never in that sentence... but it's not as wrong. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 18:03 | comment | added | user24743 | @Catija I know where you are coming from with your comment, but when you say "I have never been the same since", does it mean the speaker was never the same before the time since indicates? This expression means (s)he was the same before then, and changed after then and "has never been" the same since then. How is it different from "I dated a girl before that time, and have never dated afterwards". I don't think "never" is used that way in the present perfect tense. I drank a lot before I was 30 years old and I have never drunk since then. Does it mean I have never drunk in my whole life? | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 17:56 | comment | added | Catija | You're unlikely to use "never" in your dating example (particularly since the implication is that you had dated girls before that time) as "never" implies that you've not ever dated a girl... and (I find) it's more common to reverse the order... "I haven't dated a girl since I was twenty."... As written, it sounds odd to me. | |
| Apr 26, 2016 at 17:53 | history | answered | user24743 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |