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Since and Present Perfect

English translation: Depends

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:Since and Present Perfect
Selected answer:Depends
Entered by: B D Finch

10:01 Mar 29, 2016
English language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Other / Grammar Issues
English term or phrase: Since and Present Perfect
Is it normal to use Present Perfect after since? I've just come it across in this text:

It's been a couple of years since it has happened, and things are just now getting back to normal. I'm not sure they ever will be the same however and I understand why. It truly blows. He's like a brother and wish I could go back and do things differently. I miss the way things use to be.

Thank you in advance.
Sterk
Ukraine
Local time: 10:23
Depends
Explanation:
"It's been a couple of years since it has happened, and things are just now getting back to normal."

The use of the present perfect here is wrong, but not because it follows "since". The reason it is wrong is because it follows the definition of a period of time "a couple of years". "It has happened" is a statement about the present situation that reflects something that happened in the past. It is inappropriate when defining how long ago that something happened, so the simple past should be used here. However, the following sentence is perfectly correct:

Since it has happened, I find it very difficult to speak to my friend.

Your text also has one or two other errors:
a) "It truly blows", which might be a US term, but means nothing to me;
b) "I miss the way things use to be", should be "I miss the way things used to be."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 days (2016-04-05 09:19:49 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Loren for the information that "It truly blows" is a US term.
Selected response from:

B D Finch
France
Local time: 09:23
Grading comment
Thank you again B D Finch
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +5simple past better here
Jack Doughty
4Depends
B D Finch


  

Answers


49 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +5
since and present perfect
simple past better here


Explanation:
"since it happened " would be better, not sure if perfect is actually grammatically wrong though.

Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:23
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 276

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  philgoddard: I think "has" is wrong, and they've added it because the sentence starts with "it has".
2 hrs
  -> Тhank you.
agree  B D Finch: Yes, the perfect tense is grammatically wrong, but not because of "since".
3 hrs
  -> Тhank you.
agree  Tina Vonhof (X): If you turn the sentence around it reads: 'It happened a couple of years ago'.
3 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Victoria Britten
9 hrs
  -> Тhank you.
agree  acetran
23 hrs
  -> Thank you.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
since and present perfect
Depends


Explanation:
"It's been a couple of years since it has happened, and things are just now getting back to normal."

The use of the present perfect here is wrong, but not because it follows "since". The reason it is wrong is because it follows the definition of a period of time "a couple of years". "It has happened" is a statement about the present situation that reflects something that happened in the past. It is inappropriate when defining how long ago that something happened, so the simple past should be used here. However, the following sentence is perfectly correct:

Since it has happened, I find it very difficult to speak to my friend.

Your text also has one or two other errors:
a) "It truly blows", which might be a US term, but means nothing to me;
b) "I miss the way things use to be", should be "I miss the way things used to be."

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 days (2016-04-05 09:19:49 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Thanks to Loren for the information that "It truly blows" is a US term.

B D Finch
France
Local time: 09:23
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 20
Grading comment
Thank you again B D Finch

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  lorenab23: It truly blows is a US term similar to it really sucks ;-) http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=That blows
10 hrs
  -> Thanks Loren
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