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I always read that we should use the present perfect with actions started in the past and finished and has some influence in the present. And also we can't use the present perfect with finished time like yesterday, last year, or this morning(if the morning is finished).

consider the following situation.

I have stomach ache and my friend asks me about the reason of it.

what should I use

1- I have eaten expired cheese this morning(the morning is finished) 2- I ate expired cheese this morning(the morning is finished)

I'm sorry, I know there is millions of questions about present perfect and past simple. but every website or book I have read tells different set of rules and sometimes confusing ones. some of them just say use the present perfect if you don't mention the time. I don't know which one is correct.

a_alhm
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  • You might say I have eaten some mouldy cheese this morning, and that's why I feel sick this afternoon** (using Present Perfect for the "past action with current relevance"), but even in a context like that, most native speakers would probably stick with Simple Past. The best advice I can give to learners is to *avoid* (Present *or* Past ) Perfect forms wherever possible. They're not usually necessary, and there are many more non-native speakers over-using Perfect forms than under-using them. – FumbleFingers Jun 10 '20 at 15:26

1 Answers1

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The correct sentence is definitely 2, because the morning is finished, for a past event a past tense should be used.

As for the influence in the present, if you want to use Present Perfect there must be a connection with the present moment.

Let's develop your situation. For example, your friend looked at you and asked,

"Why are you looking pale?" (the use of present continuous refers to "now").

You answer,

"I have probably eaten expired cheese."

The question was about now and your answer is about now, since you used present perfect. Note, in your answer there's no explicit time indication, it is the context and the choice of the tense that indicate it's about now. The meaning of your answer is like this: "Now I'm looking pale because somewhere in the past I probably ate expired cheese, so now, as a result, I'm looking pale".
That's how the Present Perfect Tense works.

Yellow Sky
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