Should I use past simple or present perfect when I tell a story in English?
For a story set in a finished time, the past simple carries the events: Last weekend we drove to the coast. Keep the present perfect for the part that touches the moment you speak, and give definite past times such as yesterday or at nine to the past simple.
For a story set in a finished time, the past simple carries the events: Last weekend we drove to the coast. Keep the present perfect for the part that touches the moment you speak, and give definite past times such as yesterday or at nine to the past simple.
If you are the only person who has the news, open with the present perfect and put the detail in the past simple. The listener then hears why it matters before hearing when it happened, and the definite time in the second sentence keeps the order clear. If the listener was there when it happened, there is no news to introduce and the past simple can carry the whole turn. The same test settles the negative sentence: a closed period takes the past simple, and a period that is still open takes the present perfect.