ABSTRACT
5.1(1). The perfect is, as we have already remarked, a retrospective present; it connects a past occurrence with the present state as having results or conse quences bearing on the present moment. The preterit, on the other hand, refers to some time in the past without telling anything about its connexion with the present moment. The question "Have you finished?" refers to the present moment ("Are you through?"), while "Did you finish?" asks about some definite portion of past time. "How many times have you seen him?" refers to the whole time up to the present moment, "How many times did you see him?" may be supplemented, e. g. by "during your stay in London". The choice of the preterit or the perfect is therefore closely related to the particular kind of time-subjunct found in the same sentence.
