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I am unsure on whether to use or to omit the word have in a particular sentence:

  1. It has been a month since you graduated.
  2. It has been a month since you have graduated.

I believe that it may be ok without it, but at the same time, it may also be not only just ok to use it but more acceptable to do so than to omit it.

Shouldn't I keep using present prefect throughout the sentence instead of mixing different kinds of pasts?

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  • Does this answer your question? When do i use "I" and "I have"?
    – livresque
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 0:33
  • @livresque - your reference is on point, but that answer is unusable.
    – Royster
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 1:26
  • Your question is based on a false premise because neither is innately more correct than the other. What'd be more "correct" would depend on intended meaning, but such is the nuance that there's often overlap. In a nutshell, if you're meaning to refer to some present effect of the past action "graduate," you'd be more apt to use the present perfect "have graduated," like if you're saying the sentence as a segue to ask what they're now going to do with their diploma or degree. If not, you wouldn't, like if you're segueing to ask what they've been up to for the past month. So it depends.
    – Benjamin Harman
    Commented Jul 14, 2021 at 2:11

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Shouldn't I keep using present prefect throughout the sentence instead of mixing different kinds of pasts?

If the events in each clause happened at the same time, you can use the same tense in each clause. That is not true in this situation: the first clause describes the period from graduation to now (present perfect is the best choice to describe this), and the second clause describes an event that happened a month ago (past simple is the best choice to describe this). This is what you get:

It has been a month since you graduated.

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