In British English, the use of Simple Past and Present Perfect is quite strict. As soon as a time expression in the past is given, you have to use Simple Past. If there are no signal words, you must decide if we just talk about an action in the past or if its consequence in the present is important.
Note that the following explanations and exercises refer to British English only. In American English, you can normally use Simple Past instead of Present Perfect. We cannot accept this in our exercises, however, as this would lead to confusions amongst those who have to learn the differences.
Do you want to express that an action happened at a certain time in the past (even if it was just a few seconds ago) or that an action has just / already / not yet happened?
certain time in the past
just / already / not yet
Do you want to express when a certain action took place or whether / how often an action has happened till now?
| Simple Past | Present Perfect Simple |
|---|---|
| certain event in the past Example: He went to Canada last summer. | whether / how often till now Example: Have you ever been to Canada? / I have been to Canada twice. |
Do you just want to express what happened in the past? Or do you want to emphasise the result (a past action's consequence in the present)?
Emphasis on action
Example: I bought a new bike. (just telling what I did in the past.)
Emphasis on result