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  • The police arrested a man.
  • The police have arrested a man.

I don't know the difference between these two sentences. Could someone please explain?

Glorfindel
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    The past simple sounds more punchy / punctive. Fact. Done and dusted. Next news item? // The present perfect here sounds as if there will be more details to follow. A developing / unfolding story. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 24 '20 at 14:08
  • Basically, the difference is verb tense: past simple x present perfect. –  Aug 24 '20 at 14:09
  • @EdwinAshworth I never realized that before, but you’re right. Is there an actual grammatical reason, or are they all just copying each others’ style? – StephenS Aug 24 '20 at 14:27
  • @StephenS The relationships between syntax and semantics are often complex. Why is "Could you please open the window" or even more so with the questioning tone "Could you please open the window?" far better hedged than "Open the window, please"? The simple tenses (He fainted. / Griffindor wins!) are always more clipped, more punchy, than continuous constructions (He was slumbering. West Indies are probably winning). Here, the present perfect is less punchy, more conversational, implying the possibility of more chat to follow. Although with stressed have, it would be used for emphasis. – Edwin Ashworth Aug 24 '20 at 14:52
  • past simple is often used in news headlines. – anouk Aug 24 '20 at 15:43
  • Present Perfect normally implies a strong connection between Past and Present, which obviously has the effect of making it seem more *current / important* in the context of *news reporting. That's even though this conflicts with another typical feature of news reports (discarding articles and other "semantically superfluous" elements), so we might well end up with a headline Police have arrested suspect* rather than *The police arrested a suspect*. – FumbleFingers Sep 13 '20 at 13:48

2 Answers2

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Would it be much simpler to say that the latter,"The police have arrested a man," implies its a current event from the recent past. The former, "The police arrested a man," refers to an event that took place anytime in the past.

Shawna
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The choice of perfect or past is usually a free one, in the sense that a speaker can choose either possibility to refer to the same events.

The difference is not in the events described, or the times when they happened, but in how the speaker is choosing to portray the temporal relationships.

When we use the present perfect ("have arrested") we are positioning the event as having some relevance to the present. That relevance could have different meanings: it could be that the event was very recent; it could be that its effects are still current (eg if the man is still in custody). Or it could be one in a series of events which extends to the present time (eg "The police have arrested a man, but they couldn't find enough evidence to charge him, so they've released him, and they haven't found any other leads, even though it's been weeks")

In all these cases, we could use the simple past, in which case we are not positioning the event as related to the present.

If the arrest was recent, or he is still in custody, we are probably more likely to use the perfect; but we don't have to if we are not concerned to portray the event as related to the present. eg "What did the police do when they found him there? They arrested him", even if this has only just happened.

Colin Fine
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