Observations on the Present Perfect in English

Abstract

Observation of actual sentences shows that the expected incompatibility of the present perfect in English and adverbs ‘of finished time’ may be set aside by speakers whose focus of attention is on the current relevance of the event to the moment of speaking. The criterion of ‘current relevance’ has also led to a recent new usage. Communicational problems and conflicts here appear to be resolved pragmatically with reference to the principal purpose of communicational activity. This suggests a significant amount of flexibility in linguistic processing with grammatical form subordinate to communicational function.