1

Context: Alice has some issues with an app. She talks to Bob who is familiar with the app, but he couldn't fix it and refers her to some experts group.

Alice initiates a conversation with the experts group as given below.

Alice: "Stuck in an endless loop with the app. Bob has tried to help but can't crack the code."

Is the usage of present perfect "has" in the above statement with the given context correct? I'd have used simple past like "Bob tried to ..."

Which is correct and why?

Improve this question

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

Both are correct.

Americans are more likely to use the simple past "tried", and native speakers from other countries are more likely to use the present perfect "has tried". There's no functional difference.

Improve this answer
0

Both tried and has tried are perfectly correct. The simple past tried emphasizes the completed nature of the action. The present perfect emphasizes the relationship of the action to the current situation. In practice there is not much difference between them in this context.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .