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completed vs have completed

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completed vs have completed

by vitgun » Wed Jan 26, 2011 4:18 pm
Which one is the correct usage below

A) I completed the survey on 01/01/11. (Simple Past)

B) I have completed the survey on 01/01/11. (Present Perfect)
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by Night reader » Wed Jan 26, 2011 6:31 pm
vitgun wrote:Which one is the correct usage below

A) I completed the survey on 01/01/11. (Simple Past)

B) I have completed the survey on 01/01/11. (Present Perfect)
You mention one survey completed in the past at the specified time frame. The correct answer is A) Simple Past.
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by VivianKerr » Wed Jan 26, 2011 9:03 pm
Night Reader is correct. We use the past perfect tense to show that something happened even further back in the past.

This site has some really clear explanations with some fun quizzes at the bottom if you want a refresher! :)

https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/pastperfect.html
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by EducationAisle » Thu Jan 27, 2011 9:10 am
Present Perfect is used to depict events that happened at unspecified time before now. In this case however, since the exact time of occurance of the event (survey) is mentioned (01/01/11), Present perfect cannot be used.

Following would have been correct though:

I have completed the survey.

In the above sentence, again, we are not mentioning a specific time of occurance of the event and hence, Present perfect is the correct usage.
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