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Can you tell me what is the difference between:

I have been rescued

and

I was rescued

I know the first one is in the present perfect tense (so it’s an unstated time in the past and has an importance in the present, is it right?) and the second one, is in the simple past tense but I can’t seem to understand the subtle differences.

Eddie Kal
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  • There's something about past tense, past perfect tense, or something. "I was" means it happened in the past. "I have been" is something about continuing to be. "It was cold." "It has been cold." But I misremember the technical terms. – puppetsock Apr 16 '21 at 13:26

3 Answers3

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"I was rescued" of course refers to an event in the past.

"I have been rescued" refers to the very recent past.

For example, a person who falls over might call out "I have fallen!", but later when they recall the same event they would more likely say "I fell".

Astralbee
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    It doesn't necessarily refer to the very recent past. You could say something like "I have been rescued from burning oil platforms five times in my thirty-year career." I think it might be more accurate to say that it relates past events to the present. – stangdon Apr 16 '21 at 14:28
  • @stangdon Yes, but one can also say it does not specify a time of occurrence: it merely indicates "in the past". – Lambie Apr 16 '21 at 19:33
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I was rescued. = an event at a specific moment in the past

I have been rescued. = in the past, no specific moment. Merely past at the time of speaking in the present.

This question is asked repeatedly here and the answer is always the same.

I was rescued [last week].

I have been rescued [from this horrible life].

That happened in the past, but when this occurred is not relevant for the speaker.

Often, the past perfect is used to signal the past without saying when in the past, at the time of speaking in the present.

Lambie
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  • Since this question is asked repeatedly here and the answer is always the same, why not find one pf the earlier questions and closevote this one as a duplicate? – FumbleFingers Apr 16 '21 at 17:29
  • Thank you so much for your answer! I know that this question is asked repeatedly but it takes time to understand and sometimes, one example from one answer isn’t enough. –  Apr 16 '21 at 22:13
  • @Lambie what do you mean “From this horrible life” because it’s life in general ? –  Apr 16 '21 at 22:57
  • @leo To be rescued from [x]. from is the preposition that goes with rescuing a person from a situation. – Lambie Apr 16 '21 at 23:26
  • @Lambie Ok I understand. So whenever I don’t wanna be precise (concerning when it happened) about something I’m talking about I can use the present present tense? –  Apr 16 '21 at 23:37
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I have been rescued.

I was rescued.

@stangdon commented well.

When we say I was rescued, we do not expect to be in a similar situation again.

I have been rescued, on the other hand, means this may happen again, as in the case of this oil platform worker who has been rescued five times but is still working there.

Seowjooheng Singapore
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