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Since and Present Perfect

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Since and Present Perfect

by yellowho » Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:07 pm
I've read in multiple sources that "since" signals the use of present-perfect tense. This is not the always a hard rule and there are exceptions. Below is an exception but I don't understand the rule behind this exception:

Since it successfully negotiated payments from insurers with large presence in the local market, FHS started offering digital visits.

1) Here applying the rule the sentence should be "has started." This is wrong. The suggested answer is "had negotiated" and "started." I understand why this is correct (to show sequence of events) but why isn't "negotiated" +"has started" also correct.

2) What is the difference in meaning of the two usage?
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by Night reader » Fri Feb 04, 2011 11:39 pm
yellowho wrote:I've read in multiple sources that "since" signals the use of present-perfect tense. This is not the always a hard rule and there are exceptions. Below is an exception but I don't understand the rule behind this exception:

Since it successfully negotiated payments from insurers with large presence in the local market, FHS started offering digital visits.

1) Here applying the rule the sentence should be "has started." This is wrong. The suggested answer is "had negotiated" and "started." I understand why this is correct (to show sequence of events) but why isn't "negotiated" +"has started" also correct.

2) What is the difference in meaning of the two usage?
since=because here and is used to link the sub-clause which precedes the main clause
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by Jim@Grockit » Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:10 am
Interesting.

"Since" can mean "from the time when" or "because"; because we don't have an indication of time on the negotiation, the (time)Since would make the present perfect awkward in the way it's awkward in Last year he has started exercising; the expectation with the present perfect is that it is recently completed or going right up until the present.
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by yellowho » Mon Feb 07, 2011 2:35 am
hmmm. The way I interpreted this is that "from the moment the negotiation finished, FHS started offering and still does". Is that wrong? I don't think its "because."



[quote="Jim@Grockit"]Interesting.

"Since" can mean "from the time when" or "because"; because we don't have an indication of time on the negotiation, the (time)Since would make the present perfect awkward in the way it's awkward in [i]Last year he has started exercising[/i]; the expectation with the present perfect is that it is recently completed or going right up until the present.[/quote]
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