Past Tense in American and British English

Caspian   Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:09 am GMT
Has anybody noticed how in American, the imperfect past tense is used when in British we'd use the perfect?
American:
A:Where did he go?
B:He went to the shops.

British:
A: Where has he gone?
B: He's gone to the shops.
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 11:29 am GMT
¡Menuda mentira has soltado! Las dos formas se usan de manera igual en TODOS LOS PAISES DE HABLA INGELSA. No trates de encontrar diferencias donde no las hay, pelotudo.
Guest   Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:29 pm GMT
Store is preferred in American English, not shop.
Skippy   Fri Apr 25, 2008 2:37 pm GMT
Simple past (for American) and present perfect (British) are better terms... Imperfect implies an incomplete action.
Caspian   Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:58 pm GMT
Don't be rude to me in Spanish, have the decency to do it in English. I know the two tenses are used in English, I'm just saying that they're used in different ways.

Anyway, regardless of the correct terms, has anybody noticed the difference?

Ok, store lol!
greg   Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:12 pm GMT
Tu t'es trompé de forum : c'est pas la section monolingue ici.
K. T.   Fri Apr 25, 2008 7:18 pm GMT
Caspian,
This belongs in the English forum of Antimoon. You'll probably get better responses there, anyway.
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 7:55 pm GMT
Yes, I've noticed that. It's the same with Spanish, but even to a greater degree. Latin American Spanish speakers use the simple past more than American speakers and Spaniards use the past perfect more than British. I wonder what happens with French in Quebec and France.
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:28 pm GMT
<<Tu t'es trompé de forum : c'est pas la section monolingue ici. >>

We seem to have a pretty multilingual selction of responses, so far.
Guest   Mon Apr 28, 2008 8:31 pm GMT
<<I wonder what happens with French in Quebec and France. >>

Do they use the simple past (in French) a lot up there in Quebec?
Guest   Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:33 am GMT
"Do they use the simple past (in French) a lot up there in Quebec?"

Nowhere does simple past belong to spoken French language, no matter if in Europe, Canada or elsewhere. It's for literary and official use only.