[A] – TOM (visiting Philip for the first time): I didn’t know you lived in a houseboat.
PHILIP: I’ve always lived in a houseboat. I was born in one.
– I thought you were still on holiday. When did you get back? – I came back last week.
Has your term started yet? – Yes, it started on Monday
[B] Notar que una conversación acerca de una acción pasada con frecuencia empieza con una pregunta y una respuesta en pretérito perfecto, pero continúa en pasado simple, incluso cuando no se especifica el tiempo. Esto se debe a que la acción mencionada en primer lugar se ha vuelto definida en la mente de los que hablan:
– Where have you been? – I’ve been to the cinema. –
What did you see?/What was the film? (I saw) ‘Amadeus’. –
Did you like it?
– HUSBAND: Where have you been?
WIFE: I’ve been at the sales.
HUSBAND: What have you bought?/What did you buy?
WIFE: I have bought/I bought you some yellow pyjamas.
HUSBAND: Why did you buy yellow? I hate yellow.
[C] El pretérito perfecto se utiliza con frecuencia en periódicos y retransmisiones para introducir una acción que luego se describirá en pasado simple. El tiempo de la acción se da con mucha frecuencia en la segunda oración:
– Thirty thousand pounds’ worth of jewellery has been stolen from Jonathan Wild and Company, the jewellers. The thieves broke into the flat above some time during Sunday night and entered the shop by cutting a hole in the ceiling.
Pero incluso si el tiempo de la acción no se especifica se empleará normalmente el pasado en la segunda oración:
– Two prisoners have escaped from Dartmoor. They used a ladder which had been left behind by some workmen, climbed a twenty-foot wall and got away in a stolen car.
[D] El pretérito perfecto tambien se utliza con frecuencia en cartas:
- I am sorry I haven’t written before but I’ve been very busy lately as Tom has been away.
We have carefully considered the report which you sent us on 26 April, and have decided to take the following action.
A Practical English Grammar (A.J. Thomson & A.V. Martinet) 