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Can some please explain the difference
1) I spent a lot of time with my friends
2) I have spent a lot of time with my friends

ColleenV
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user3608985
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1 Answers1

5

The second implies that there is some particular relevance to the present. The relevance is not specified, but often means that the occasions on which the speaker spends time with their friends is still continuing, or at least regarded as not finished.

The first implies that the occasions on which the speaker spent time with their friends is over. It does not say that they will never spend time with them again, just that they are regarding the series of events as finished.

As usual with the perfect/non-perfect distinction, it is not necessarily expressing an objective difference in the facts, but may be just about how the speaker is choosing to view or refer to the events.

Colin Fine
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