Sunday, September 29, 2013

present perfect - What are the differences between "When did she move in?" & "When has she moved in?"




I am a bit confused!



I am not sure whether the native English speakers choose to use "When did she move in?" or "When has she moved in?".



If we use simple past tense, we imply that the specific time in the past is important. For example, "She moved in 2 months ago"



If we use present perfect tense, we imply that the specific time in the past is not important or we don't need a specific time. For example, "She has moved in recently".




So, my question is



when you the native speakers say "When has she moved in?" meaning that you don't care about specific time or you don't need an answer with a specific time?



when you the native speakers say "When did she move in?" meaning that you care about specific time or you need an answer with a specific time?


Answer



We rarely use the present perfect with when questions. As the Original Poster notes, the present perfect represents an indefinite time of an indefinite event. The word when conflicts with part of the meaning of present perfect constructions.The word when requires an indication of a specific time from the speaker. So, for this reason, we rarely use when and the present perfect in the same question.



The exception to this is when we are using the present perfect to indicate a time starting in the past and running up the the present moment. In such situations we might observe since when or when .... since type questions:





  • Since when have you been waiting?



We also sometimes use the present perfect with when if we want to imply that there there was no event or situation to assign a specific time to:




  • When has a woman (ever) been President of the USA?


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