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When do we use recently with past tenses?
I've come across some sentences in which I don't understand the use of recently.
I recently wrote to my grandmother.
They were working in Canada recently.
From Headway upper intermediate Teacher's Book p.7.
I thought we had to use the present perfect with it.
Both past and present perfect may be employed with recently to name an action in the recent past. Which you employ should be governed by the context in which that action occurs.
Use a past form if the action is one of a sequence of past actions, a narrative:
I recently wrote my grandmother to tell her about my first year in college. She answered with a very funny letter about her own freshman year, in 1967-68.
They were working in Canada recently, and collected many old songs about the Newfoundland whalters.
Use a perfect form if you name the action as the source of a present state:
I have recently written my grandmother; I expect her to send me a check, and I will be able to pay you back.
They have been working in Canada recently, and I have no idea when they will be back.
Keep in mind that the present perfect is a present tense, which makes a statement about the situation at the time you speak.
You can use "recently" with past and perfect tenses, as seen in these dictionary examples:
I recently bought a CD player.
Dean recently lost his job in a sports shop and applied to join the fire service.
"Recently" is often used with past participles on web sites. Examples: "recently watched videos", "recently read stories", "recently viewed items".
There's no problem with using recently and the simple past. In that case, the reference is to an action that was completed or an event that took place in the recent past.
There's a gray area, however, with recently and the present perfect.
These two sound fine:
I have purchased a CD recently.
(Meaning: In the recent past, on at least one occasion, I bought a CD.)
I purchased that CD recently.
(Meaning: in the recent past, I bought that CD.)
But this sounds "off":
It is common practice here to try to find contexts where #3 would make sense; perhaps if certain words are emphasized, it could make clear sense. But there is a discord in the sentence that asks to be resolved.
The question is as much about the slightly different meanings of 'recently' as it is about tenses. 'Recently' can mean (1) a recent point in time or (2) a recent period of time extending until the present.
I bought a CD player recently. (1) I've been busy at work recently. (2)
I've recently bought a CD player is also fine; it means you bought it within a recent time period extending to the present.
Note: The 'up until now' concept with the present perfect includes both actions and states that continued over that time period or actions that happened within an unfinished time period (Have you been abroad this year? etc.)
The main difference is that Americans are more likely to use the past simple with recently, and speakers of British English are more likely to use the present perfect. It also depends on how formal the situation is, so in everyday speech past simple is more common. These two aspects (AE/BE, formal/informal) apply to other usages of past simple and present perfect as well, just to give some examples: already, yet, never.
Generally speaking, you can use the adverb "recently" in both the past simple and the present perfect, without any difference in meaning. The use of this adverb in the past is more common in AE while in the present perfect is more common in BE. However, if you look at these minutely, there is sure some difference.
When you use the present perfect, you look at something as happening in the past but having a result in the present. In other words, we talk about the past and the present when we use the present perfect while, in the past simple, we look at an event as happening in the past only. For example:
I have purchased that CD recently indicates that I own or have that CD now.
On the other hand, "I purchased that CD recently" doesn't necessarily mean that I own or have it now. Maybe I sold it or it got stolen.
