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Post by Mari on Jun 3, 2013 19:45:35 GMT
Quick question: I'm teaching my kiddies the present perfect and how it differs from the past simple. I have a fairly good grip on both (as one should hope) but a question a student asked threw me. What is the difference between 'did you do your homework' and 'have you done your homework'?
I explained it as did you do being a question you can simply answer yes or no to, but have you done being a question with a meaning or consequence. I.e. : Did you do your homework? Yes/No/Whatever. Have you done your homework? If you haven't I'm not going to be pleased. Was I right?
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Post by juju on Jun 3, 2013 20:05:14 GMT
I don't think there's any difference. I would say either, but probably 'have you done' sounds more comfortable for me. And the answer to that could be a straight 'yes' or 'no'.
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Post by raspberrybullets on Jun 3, 2013 20:49:57 GMT
I think they are pretty much the same. Perhaps the first would suggest to me that it was expected that the homework should already have been done whereas the second might suggest that homework has to be done at some point and have you done it already?
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Post by JoeP on Jun 3, 2013 21:13:18 GMT
I'm thinking that 'did you do' refers to something done at one point (in the past) whereas 'have you done' refers to whether something done or not up to now, no matter when.
In some sentences this wouldn't make any difference. But saying 'have you done your homework yesterday?' would be wrong, and saying 'did you do your homework already?' would be wrong ... though people do say just that!
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Post by JoeP on Jun 3, 2013 21:16:51 GMT
Kye knows all about this ... but has had too much beer to contribute tonight. I may have, too ...
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Post by Kye on Jun 3, 2013 21:31:05 GMT
Indeed...
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Post by Alvamiga on Jun 3, 2013 21:56:13 GMT
I think that "have you done" is much nearer to the present tense.
You could say "Did you do your homework when you were at school in the 1970s?" "Have you done" seems to more imply something that you could still do something about.
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Post by Mari on Jun 4, 2013 6:38:50 GMT
It seems like my explanation was more or less on track then. Enough for the kids to do it right anyway. Thanks!
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