Hi Yichun,

You’re welcome. Yes, you’re absolutely right there.

Phil

Hi Phil

Thank you for your explanations!

I have always been happy means I was happy in past and that continues to now, right? (I am still happy now)

But I have been happy, just means I was happy at some time in the past, but doesn’t tell us whether I am happy or not now, additional context may be needed to infer my feeling now.

Best regards,

Yichun

Hi Yichun,

No, I meant merely that by its nature the past suggests it happened it in the past, so we could infer that the state subsequently finished. E.g. “I was happy then.” might not tell us we are not sad now, but it does suggest I stopped being happy after that, at least for a certain amount of time before now (as opposed to “I have always been happy.”)

Phil

What do mean when you said” While it does suggest it’s no longer true (or stopped being true at some point), as we’re talking about the past, the past tense doesn’t necessarily tell us that the state finished or is not true now.”

Is it supposed to be it does NOT suggest it’s no longer true…..?

Best regards,

Yichun

Hi Yichun,

Yes – strictly speaking on its own the tense only tells us that the state was true in the past. While it does suggest it’s no longer true (or stopped being true at some point), as we’re talking about the past, the past tense doesn’t necessarily tell us that the state finished or is not true now. If the state has been continued into the present we might use the present perfect to show that, but we might also just use the past tense to define that the state was true at a certain time in the past, even if it’s still true now. For example:

I have wanted a bike since I was ten years old.
I wanted a bike when I was ten years old and I still want a bike now.

Hopefully that makes sense! Essentially though you have it right – in the strictest terms, without extra context, the past tense defines something in the past but does not necessarily tell us about the present.

Phil

Hi Phil

Since all the examples you mentioned here are sentence structure like I said/ understood that some statements in the past. I am wondering without the I said/understood that, even with a simple sentence talking about the past(e.g. I wanted or liked something, I felt good, or I had a headache), the rules(the simple past only tells us something in true in the past, but not indicate whether it is still true now or not or in the future, unless the context indicates that)are still applied, right?

For example, I liked or wanted something, it just means I wanted or wanted something in the past, but not tell us whether I still like or want it or not in the present or even future. We can only infer that information regarding whether it is true or not now or in the future base on the context, right?

Yichun

Hi Yichun,

Yes, that’s right.

Phil

Hi Phil

And when you said the rules in the past, it doesn’t necessarily mean a timeless rule, like water boils at 100 degrees, 1+1=2, it can be any statements the speaker made in the past, right? For instance, I liked or wanted something, I felt sad, or I moved to somewhere.

Yichun

Thank you, I get it!

So it has nothing to with novel when you said narrative here, right? Or we can consider novel is one of the applied scenarios, as it essentially tells stories in the past.

Since when I looked up the dictionary, narrative means the stories in a novel, which makes me confused somehow.

But anyway your explanation makes sense to me!

Best regards,

Yichun

Yes that’s right, it applies in written and spoken English (though as always the rules are sometimes loose in spoken English, depending on the speaker!). Sorry that’s probably a bit technical saying narrative, yes I mean anything that happens in the past, I just used that word to make clear that the past tense is creating a narrative, describing something in the past.

Phil